Hinata Days
by AngelChaosGuardian
Summary: Based on "Midori Days." What if Hinata found a jutsu for courage that inadvertantly placed her on Naruto's right hand? HinaxNaru
1. Courageous Heart

**Hinata Days**

by AngelChaosGuardian & ElysianKiss

_**- Courageous Heart -**_

It was a very wet afternoon in Konoha. The rains had been pelting down on the earth for hours with not a reprieve in sight. Hinata had taken the time to look through the Hyuuga family library. She was looking for a new jutsu in some of the ancient scrolls located there that might help her strength. A loud clap of thunder startled the kunoichi, causing her to drop one of the scrolls in her grasp. It fell to the floor and rolled out almost completely. She sighed and placed the other scrolls she was holding on a nearby table so she could pick up the one she dropped. As her fingertips touched the scroll, something caught her attention. It was a very rare and old jutsu, _Yuumai Kokoro_.

The description stated that the jutsu gave one the courage to confess their feelings to the one they loved. It also said that the jutsu would not cease to give courage until the one you loved returned your feelings. Even though this was not the type of jutsu Hinata was searching for, it excited her. Here was her chance to confess to Naruto without fear of rejection or fainting! She quickly put the other scrolls away and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. She diligently copied all of the information from the scroll on the jutsu and then carefully replaced the scroll, taking the paper back to her room with her. She couldn't wait to try this out. Her hands shook nervously as she opened the shoji door to her room.

She quickly put the paper down on her bed as she stood before it, practicing the hand signs necessary, then whispering the command and studying the required chakra level. Finally, she took a deep breath and began the complicated jutsu for real. As she went through the various signs and applied her chakra she felt a little fear trickle down her spine. It felt foreboding, but she ignored it. Suddenly, there was a flash of lightning with a great crash of thunder and the lights in the Hyuuga compound went out. A few minutes later, they returned and Hinata was out cold on the floor.

The rains had finally decided to stop their assault on the defenseless village and permit its occupants some much needed sunshine. But not everyone's day was starting with a great amount of ease for the coming daylight. A certain blond cringed as a single stand of light oozed its way around his scattered dusty shades of his window. The poor blond hadn't gained any mercy from Jiraiya during the monsoon which had exploded down from the sky.

"Hurry up and continue trying to cut that damn leaf in half, Naruto," thundered the sannin over the lightning strikes and the drowning water.

Naruto had been tired from the cold, and his chakra coils had felt like liquid fire was washing through him every time he focused it into cutting the damn soggy plant pinned between his palms.

Slowly azure colored eyes carefully opened up to meet the harsh greeting of the unforgiving sun. True Naruto wasn't feeling any pain from the yesterday's training/torture, however, exhaustion was something he wasn't immune to even with the help of his nine tailed companion. His body remained stuck at first, ignoring his brain's call to get a warm shower, despite the one he inadvertently received the day prior. He got to his feet slowly, not even caring to remove his sleeping hat. In his current state, he honestly couldn't care less if he wore it into the bath with him. His ten step walk to his bathroom was a torture in itself, his muscles felt like someone had wrapped every inch of his body in razor wire and was pulling it tight.

His bathroom was cozy, and he did his routine as always every morning: wake up, stick his hand into the shower, wait until the water reached that heaven between hot and cold, then a quick hop in to wake up and see a new day. However, today was different. Something was off as he stuck his right hand into the still cold water.

"AHHHHHH," a very feminine shriek echoed in the room as a small ebony haired heiress was woken quite rudely by a splash of cold water.

She shivered as it continued to pour on her still semi unfocused self, trying to piece together where exactly she was. The blond boy's squinted eyes soon became giant azure colored disks as he heard the distinctive noise of a female screaming. He blinked twice, staring around the bathroom. His first instinct was to check the window, it had happened before that he left it open and gave the old lady next door a eye full. However, it had the shades down, and the bathhouse was on the other side of village.

"Hmm," he thought shrugging it off.

The blond soon slid his boxers down and lifted his right leg in while placing his right hand again under the steady stream of the now mildly warm liquid.

Hinata looked around just before she was again dunked into this time lukewarm water.

"Hey! Stop that," she yelled in her upset and then shrieked again as she saw a very large male organ beneath her.

She fled from the object and hit a large, hard slab of skin. Her eyes slowly traveled up the massive expanse of tanned muscle with trepidation. Naruto jumped at the sudden demand of a now louder female voice. He stared around in complete wonder as to what was happening.

"_Genjutsu,_" he thought questioningly as his right hand smashed into his own chest with a smack.

"Huh?"

He looked down in confusion, wondering when his right hand grew blue hair. Hinata saw a strong chin, whiskered cheeks, azure eyes and spiky blond hair.

"NARUTO-KUN," she smiled excitedly, hugging him, her tiny but shapely breasts cradling the bridge of his nose as she hugged his face happily.

Naruto's eyes went large.

"MY HAND CAN TALK," he froze staring into a small tuft of black/blue hair.

He had to stifle a nose bleed when his eyes crossed and noticed two perky globes of flesh cradling his nose...TWO BREASTS GLOMPING HIS NOSE!? He felt short of breath. He was unsure if it was the moisture in the air, or the fact he felt he had swallowed one of his lungs when he'd gasped so hard. He grabbed his right oddity of a hand with his left, only to turn a deeper shade of red as he pulled it back and focused on a miniature girl on his hand...A miniature female who was topless, and now had his left hand's fingers holding her breasts up at full attention.

Hinata gasped at the contact with her breasts, noticing then that she was topless. She screamed, covering her breasts and turning away abruptly.

"Ah! Don't look!"

Her cheeks reddened but she didn't faint, she merely felt embarrassed and confused. Why was she topless?! And why hadn't she fainted yet? Naruto couldn't help but stare in disbelief before he quickly brought his hands up to cover his face only to have two breasts cover his eyes.

"AHH," he yelled freaked out beyond belief, "It's a dream."

He tried mentally to reassure himself he wasn't going insane seeing a girl on his hand that looked like Hinata

"Naruto! You pervert," she screamed, slapping his forehead with her right hand as her left covered her breasts.

"I am not," he yelled back at his hand making a instant dash out of the bath and taking hold of a towel, which he used to cover up his morning salute and other exposed flesh.

He took a deep breath and stared at the mirror.

"Okay calm down, Hinata isn't on your hand and didn't just call you a pervert," he spoke each word slowly trying harder with each one to convince himself, but the cold hard reality of the situation made itself known as he looked down and got another glimpse of the mini Hyuuga heir's pointy tits.

He closed his eyes and covered up his hand with a wash cloth.

"Hey! I can't breathe, Naruto-kun!"

Hinata struggled, pulling the wash cloth off of her of using it as a makeshift bath towel to cover all of her exposed flesh.

"Hinata," Naruto questioned, taking a slow careful look at his now living right hand.

Sure it was a mini version of the Hinata he knew, but everything matched. Her eyes were still that pale lavender color, blackish/blue hair he wasn't sure what color it was exactly, and as always that blush.

"Is this real?"

Hinata looked down at herself, noticing then where exactly she was. She was somehow attached to Naruto's hand, but it didn't matter much. Sure he had embarrassed her, but she was very happy to be with her Naruto-kun. She smiled up at him.

"I don't know how I got here, Naruto-kun, but it's real. And I'm very happy. I'm very happy to finally be with my Naruto-kun!"

She snuggled up to his chest with a great big smile on her face and a light blush covering her cheeks. Naruto took a deep breath trying to keep himself from possible going into another panic attack.

"Well I guess this won't be so bad, I mean it's not like were stuck this way forever," he sighed, feeling relieved at looking at the situation in that mind set.

But something was bugging him a little. He didn't know Hinata that well. They were comrades and occasional team mates, but nothing more then that. However, even he knew that Hinata always fainted whenever she got embarrassed...so why wasn't that happening now?

He shook off the sudden explosion of questions he had wash over him. How did this happen? Did anyone know about this? What about her real body? He gulped, but felt it be best they get the simple things out of the way.

"Um, Hinata? Could you close your eyes so I can finish washing up?"

Her blush deepened, but she nodded.

"Sure, Naruto-kun."

She held the towel tightly over her body as she closed her eyes, trusting him.

Naruto stepped back under the running water, this time making sure to keep his 2nd companion out of the flow. He felt awkward beyond words as he cleansed his body in silence. Simply because this was the closest and first time he had seen a girl practically naked. He gave a sigh of relief as he finished up, and shook his hair to get any spare bubbles out of his blond spikes. He turned away and closed his eyes, blushing madly, as he pushed Hinata just under the warm spray.

"Alright Hinata, your turn," he gulped, hoping she wouldn't look at him on accident.

Hinata opened her eyes and looked straight forward. She leaned toward the bar of soap and rubbed her hands across it to get some suds before spreading it over her body and cleaning it. She then rinsed off and bit her lip.

"Naruto-kun, I need some shampoo," she said, keeping her breasts covered with her arms.

"Um sure, Hinata," he quivered.

Naruto was already at his wits end. He was clenching his eyes so tight he could've sworn they were going to bleed. He took a deep breath and reached for his shampoo with his left hand, he popped the cap open and moved his right hand near the opening.

"That alright?"

"Yes. Just make sure not to squeeze too tight," she replied, waiting for the shampoo with her tiny hands.

Naruto gulped and turned the bottle, letting it drip out in a slow pour while making extra sure not to over coat her. Naruto was many things, he was spontaneous, unpredictable, loyal, and helpful. But one thing many didn't know about Naruto was how loving and careful he was with whatever he thought was precious.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun," Hinata said, as she got the right amount of shampoo for her long hair.

She began to immediately lather her hair and couldn't help the soft sigh that escaped her lips.

"Mmn...I love the smell of your shampoo, Naruto-kun," she said with her eyes closed, as the suds washed down her torso.

The blond boy couldn't help but blush another shade darker, it was so odd how such a little comment could make him feel so weird. Sure he liked his shampoo, but just the fact Hinata liked it made him start to wonder why she had never told him that before... well, _this_.

"Are you done now," he asked.

"Almost," she said as she rinsed out the last of the suds from her hair and body. "Okay. Now I'm done. I just need another towel," she said absently as she looked around for one and squeaked as she got another look at his manly parts. "Eek! Naruto-kun is so big!" she said covering her eyes up with a huge blush.

"Eh?"

He felt all the blood rush up into his head at that. Just the fact of hearing Hinata tell him he was _big_ and they were both naked in the shower...it made his heart rate spike as well.

"Um," he didn't say another word as he reached out for dry wash cloth and covered Hinata with it, eyes still closed.

Hinata felt the towel and immediately covered her body with it.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun," she whispered, still pink.

She couldn't believe it. She was actually here with Naruto, naked, and they'd just effectively taken a bath together. She could feel the blood rush to her cheeks and face and the familiar swooning sensation, but nothing. She didn't faint. She was just very, very embarrassed. But, my, was Naruto is really good shape, not to mention certain parts that sent a little shiver up her spine. And he was just so sweet! She was bursting with the need to tell him right now.

"Naruto-kun?"

"Hmm," he mumbled quickly getting his boxers on, and trying feverishly to get his other body parts dried off before she could catch a glimpse and make his face go redder than a tomato.

It was odd, despite the fact Hinata was usually one the one always blushing when they talked, their roles had switched.

"I..I just wanted to tell you that I love you, Naruto-kun," she said, and then hurried onward with her courage, "I have since we were in the academy. I want to be your girlfriend!"

"DAH!?"

Naruto blinked a few times then brought the miniature female closer to his face almost seeming confused.

"You love me Hinata," he asked feeling like somehow Kakashi or Jiraiya would release him from the genjutsu and start laughing at him because he'd fallen for such a simple joke.

"I...um...," he couldn't draw out his words.

True, he had noticed Hinata usually followed him, and she did watch him during the academy years, but he just thought she was weird like that. But she loved him? She wanted to be his girlfriend? It just felt odd. A Hyuuga heir, the closest damn thing to a living princess was in love with him - the one person who most everyone in the village would have given anything just to not be able to see again. He gulped as his heart dropped into his stomach.

"I... well... you..."

A couple of knocks sounded at the door.

"NARUTO," came a loud yell from his front door, "Tsunade-sama asked me to come by and check up on you after yesterdays training with Jiraiya, please don't tell me your still asleep!"

Naruto immediately was in a frenzy...what if someone else found out about this?

Hinata's stomach seemed to drop then. He hadn't said anything to her confession at all. She tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall, oblivious to Naruto's hurried movements and the female voice from outside the front door. She sniffled and hid her face in the towel.

Naruto dashed out of the bathroom, now only in a pair of orange boxers that had a little fox on his posterior side. He checked under his bed, finding a small dusty medical box he never used thanks to his healing ability. He more than ever needed it now to hide Hinata. He took out the bandage roll, and began to wrap his left hand tightly in bandages. He noticed the small look of hurt and confusion on Hinata's face as he didn't wrap her up.

"Trust me," he struggled, getting some bandages on his face and chest and covered himself up with blankets.

Sakura stomped her foot furiously in impatience.

"NARUTO! Open up this door! Hey! If you don't open this door, I'll knock it down!"

"COME IN," he coughed, "SAKURA-CHAN!"

He felt like this had to be the worse and best day of his life. For one, someone actually cared for and confessed her loved to him. But, literally on the other hand, she was attached to him now. If Sakura found out...he didn't want to imagine the pain. Sakura rattled the door knob and huffed in annoyance.

"Its locked, Naruto."

"Um the spare key is under the mat", he shouted back before pulling Hinata out and looking her in the face. "Please just be quiet for a little while Hinata," he nearly begged her with the fear of Sakura beating him to death which was enough to make him want to grovel for help.

Hinata nodded in understanding and hid under the sheets, pulling Naruto's shoulder down fast. Sakura found the key and opened the door, putting the spare key on Naruto's table.

"Finally. So...how are you feeling," she asked, taking in the haphazard bandages.

"I've been better, Ero-sannin was making me chop a single leaf in two directions at once, and I over did it with my left hand," he raised up the bandaged hand knowing full well when you wrapped something it grabbed attention, that being the exact reason he hadn't wrapped Hinata up.

Sakura frowned.

"Then, I guess I better perform a diagnostic jutsu just to make sure everything is alright," she said, preparing to make the proper hand signs.

"GAH!"

Naruto cringed, holding his stomach and immediately jumped up out of bed, making sure to hold onto his covers to hide Hinata

"I gotta go to the bathroom," he shouted dashing past said pink haired kunoichi and locked himself in his bathroom. "Crap why couldn't Sakura leave well enough alone?"

Sakura looked after him suspiciously. Then laughed out loud.

"Nice boxers, Naruto! Well, I'll be back later to check up on you then. You seem to be doing fine if you can move like that. Just try to take it easy," she called as she left the apartment.

Naruto frowned and gave a simple blush, sure he didn't mind getting naked and such. None the less, he was self conscious about his body when it was girls seeing him naked. He sighed deeply, feeling relieved.

"That was a close one wasn't it, Hinata?"

Hinata sniffled and nodded quietly. She could just imagine what Sakura would have done to Naruto if she'd found out. She didn't blame him for hiding her, but she was still upset because he hadn't really accepted nor responded to her confession. She felt a little depressed.

"Hinata," Naruto gulped, remembering he hadn't answered her before their interruption.

Sure he couldn't say he didn't like Hinata, but at the same time what did he truly know about her? He'd spent so much time chasing Sakura and worrying about Sasuke he had missed the shy girl, well not so shy now

"Hinata..are you sure that you love me," he asked, her completely serious in his question.

It wasn't that he didn't want her, but it was just confusing to him. He didn't have a family to love him when he was younger, and if what he felt for Sakura was love...then love really hurt. He just couldn't exactly tell her "I love you" and mean it. He for the life of him had no idea at all what exactly love was like. He thought it would only be fair to Hinata, if she was after all in love with him, to take his time and get to know her before he said something he couldn't give to her.

"Yes, Naruto-kun! I love how brave and strong and loyal you are! I also love how sweet and carefree you are. I really admire you so much, Naruto-kun! You give me the strength to continue, to never give up," she said with her eyes shining like pearls, "I just want to be close to you Naruto-kun. I know for sure in my heart that I truly love you!"

"Hinata-chan, thank you," he started slowly, making sure to say this in a clear way. "I don't know if I'm in love with you, because I know you...but I don't know anything about besides who your relatives are, and the fact you were always blushing and fainting. I...um...I want to learn more about you. Because...because..."

He lowered his head trying his hardest not to cry, it was terrible now, he normally dropped his mask when he was all alone but now she would get to see him for what he really was...alone.

"Because no one has said they love me before."

Hinata's eyes widened and she immediately hugged him to her chest, forgetting her state of undress.

"Oh...Naruto-kun...I'd be happy to let you get to know me. And hopefully you'll come to love me too. Now...how about some breakfast?" she asked with a small smile before she squeaked and covered her bare breasts once again, "But maybe after I get covered up..."

"Yeah that be best," Naruto agreed, making sure to cover her with a bit of the blanket he still had to protect her modesty.

Hinata was letting him get to know her...but the true test of that love would come sooner or later once someone began talking about the nine tails

"So...what do you have to make for breakfast," she asked.

The blond boy could on laugh feeling nervous with his answer.

"Um lets go find out," he gave her a goofy grin as sweat dropped down the back of his head.

Hinata nodded and pulled him by the arm she was attached to as she went to the kitchen. She opened one cupboard and then another and another. She sweat dropped. Every single cupboard was stacked to the brim...with different flavors of ramen.

"We need to go shopping," she said plainly.


	2. Shopping

**A/N:**** To all our loyal fans. We are sorry, please do not try to harm us or kill us... School and work have become complicated, but we will try to reach an update schedule of 2 weeks between chapters. This story will be continued, so please don't stop reading. Thank you to all who have reviewed thus far, and keep those reviews coming! **

* * *

**Hinata Days**

by AngelChaosGuardian & ElysianKiss

_**- Shopping-**_

The atmosphere of the room took a drastic change at the mention of going out and shopping. The mini, now self-sure, Hinata probably thought it was a simple matter of going down and grabbing food essentials. However, it wasn't so simple as to the fact Naruto couldn't go out into broad daylight with a girl attached to him.

"Um...how are we going to do shopping like this," Naruto asked puzzled by how they could get around the village unnoticed.

The simple fact of living in a ninja village meant nothing ever went unnoticed. Said blond knew many things wouldn't work, such as bandages after the Sakura incident. Naruto took a exasperated sigh, leaving the kitchen to finish dressing himself up. Even though he didn't want to admit it to Hinata at the time, her being there wasn't exactly making it easy for him to go unclothed as he often did. When he was done he gave his new companion a bit of a smirk.

"How are we going to manage this Hinata," he took a moment before asking his next question a small blush on his cheeks, "And what exactly are you going to wear?"

"Well...for now we can use bandages to keep me decent and...," she thought hard, her little brow furrowing, "How about you hide me in your pocket? You can cut a little air hole for me to see and breath out of," she smiled softly.

Naruto slowly took some bandages from the now dwindling roll he spent mostly trying to trick his pink haired teammate.

"Guess bandages will be on the list of things to get too," he laughed pulling off a long strand and placing it into the ebony haired girls mini hands.

Hinata quickly used some of the bandages to wrap her chest and then ripped the tape clean.

"Ok, Naruto-kun. I'm ready to go!"

"Hinata, are you sure this is even gonna work, I mean after all this is a village full of shinobi."

He gulped truly frightened by the reactions he would receive if one person noticed a living breathing girl attached to his hand.

"Isn't there another way to do this," he asked though secretly only wanting not to damage his favorite jacket.

"I really can't think of another way, Naruto-kun," she said, softly, "We need to get some proper food and in order to do that we need to go out. This is the only way I can think of to not call attention to our situation. Anything else would seem very suspicious."

Naruto sighed defeated, Hinata made a valid point. Anything such as bandages or weird clothing would only draw attention. He fake cried as he pulled out a kunai and slowly started cutting a small circle into his inner jacket pocket.

"Wait, how am I gonna know what we need to get if your in my pocket," he asked while putting her in

"I'm not sure. Put me in your pocket now and see if you can hear me."

He did as instructed.

"Alright say something Hinata."

"Can you hear me, Naruto-kun?"

"HMMMM," he asked, struggling to make out her tiny voice

Hinata tried again a little bit louder.

"What did you say Hinata?"

He sighed, this wasn't working and if she had to scream to get him to hear people with better hearing would easily noticing something was up. Hinata sighed as well.

"Okay, Naruto-kun, take me out of your pocket. We need to think of something else."

Naruto waited for a moment, not hearing anything. He merely shrugged guessing Hinata was thinking of something else to try.

"Naruto-kun," she tried again, getting frustrated and finally punching his side hard with her tiny fist. The result felt like a light poke.

Naruto jumped and had to fight off the urge to laugh as something incredibly tiny had just jabbed at him. He opened up his jacket with his left hand, and peered through the air hole at a frustrated looking Hinata.

"What was that," he asked stifling himself best he could.

"I had to punch you to get your attention," she huffed.

"Well I noticed," he sweat dropped at the situation, for being so little the ebony haired girl on his hand had just made him jump nearly out of his skin. "I guess that will work then," he smiled giving her a goofy grin, showing he was happy despite the shock.

"Okay...so I'll punch you if I need your attention. Let's make a list of what we need to get first, Naruto-kun," she smiled.

The two spent a few minutes getting the details of the list down before heading out toward the market. It was busy at this time of day, but not overly crowded which was a good thing considering the circumstances.

Naruto made his way the best he could through the crowd, trying not to get bumped on his left side. After all, he didn't know if Hinata would be seriously hurt by the slightest shake and bump. He soon arrived at the small grocer he used constantly because its prices were cheap, which was best for the amount of money he had

The grocer was a tiny building in comparison to the two adjacent to it, but the reason Naruto loved the place was that the owner was indifferent to the customers. All she cared about was if you could pay. He smiled at the large surplus racks of ramen that he sadly had to bypass to start on the list Hinata had set up for him.

He carefully took hold of a mini carry basket with his left hand, gracefully pulling it up so the handles rested at his elbow. Naruto knew that Hinata needed to be hidden at all times now, so that meant he couldn't use his right hand for anything. Even if he were attacked he could only use his left. But, then again, Hinata's safety came first now.

Hinata peered out of the small hole in Naruto's pocket as he walked through the store. She wore a happy smile on her face. This would be the first time she went grocery shopping with Naruto-kun. It was very nice and he felt very warm. She snuggled up against his abdomen absently.

Naruto felt the warm presence on his stomach. He tried his best to keep from blushing, but merely cleared his thought and hoped Hinata would get the message that what she was doing wasn't helping him. He did his best to press on as he scanned the many shelfs finding leeks, onions, and pepper root. But he flinched, because at the end of the aisle a long black haired Hyuuga and one of his teammates was heading in his direction.

Hinata tensed as she saw Neji and Ten-Ten heading their way. Hopefully Naruto-kun wouldn't cause Neji to become suspicious. If he did she feared her cousin might active the Byakugan and see her chakra as well as Naruto-kun's. Then again...did she even have her own chakra like this? Was she merely sharing Naruto-kun's? She blushed softly and started poking her two index fingers against each other.

Neji was carrying a basket around. He still couldn't believe he had been reduced to this. He was a jounin after all, a high quality and ranking ninja. So how the heck did he manage to find himself doing the shopping for the branch house kitchen? He could only hide his spite behind a collected mask, doing his best to just do the job and end his humiliation.

However, he stopped to take a small peek at his smiling, brown haired teammate. He couldn't say it was all bad, his companion at least didn't think any less of him. But most importantly she knew how ashamed he was and merely had told him to play it off as her asking a teammate to help her with the shopping.

He glanced back down the aisle as he noticed an orange jumpsuit and a head of large spiky blond hair stop in his tracks as he saw them.

"Hmm," thought the Hyuuga as he approached as though there was nothing out of the ordinary as he could see. "Hello Uzumaki-san," he said just as Ten-Ten caught up with him saying a quite hello and standing close enough to be rubbing shoulders with the Hyuuga.

Naruto felt himself wash with a cold sweat, he had to be being punished for the bad things the kyubi did during his existence in the world. How else could he just randomly run into the worse possible person. He gulped, but decided to do his best to play everything off as normal.

"Heya Neji," he replied to the greeting of his fellow comrades.

Hinata's little heart almost stopped. Oh please, Kami-sama, don't let Neji-kun notice! She pressed herself back into Naruto, trying to minimize herself in that pocket as much as possible. Naruto had to stifle a giggle as the contact with his abdomen now made him realize he was in trouble. Hinata had found a place where he was ticklish, and now he could only pray she didn't start grabbing too much.

"What are you doing here Neji, Ten-Ten," Naruto asked trying his best to divert some attention from him.

Neji and Ten-ten both sweat dropped at his question.

"I'm helping Ten-Ten shop for food," stated the Hyuuga.

"Honestly, Naruto, what kinda question was that," asked Ten-ten, surprised more and more by the blond's growing stupidity.

Neji frowned agreeing with his female friend, but he soon had a question of his own looking at Naruto's basket.

"No ramen, Uzumaki-san?"

Naruto froze like a puddle, crap now he knew it was over. After all, him going to the store to buy anything but was like Kakashi walking around Konoha with no mask on! He gulped trying his hardest to find a good reason. But so far nothing would work, at least well enough to fool Neji since he could use the byakugan to tell if he was lying and that would be incredibly bad because he would find out.

Hinata wrung her hangs in worry. Oh this was bad! She should have thought of that and put at least 2 cups of ramen on that list! She looked around the little peep hole and saw a miso cup of ramen near by. She did the only thing she could think of.

"Henge," she henged herself to look like a normal hand and quickly struck out to grab the cup of ramen in her little arms.

She huffed quietly under its weight, and wondered why neither her nor Naruto had thought of a henge earlier. Naruto suddenly felt his hand rush out of his jacket. He mentally screamed knowing it was the right hand. WHAT WAS HINATA DOING? He suddenly noticed a normal looking hand grip a hold of a miso cup of ramen and struggle to bring it over to the basket. He moved the basket in front of him, allowing her to drop the noodles in.

Neji and Ten-ten both stood in a state of shock; their eyes nearly bulging from their sockets at the speed said blond reached out, without looking, and secured himself a cup of miso ramen. Neji couldn't help but notice something though. The position of the ramen would've been out of Naruto's side vision...meaning he saw it somehow and got it.

Naruto gave them a toothy grin and smiled as a lie came to him.

"You caught me on my way to get that," he laughed more out of relief then nervousness, making sure to place his right hand back in his pocket. "But why are you two shopping together," he asked thinking that question a bit more misleading.

Neji seemed unaffected by the question or the things it implied.

"Uzumaki-kun, Ten-ten is my team mate, she merely requested I come along to help her," he stated, well collected.

However, it didn't go unnoticed to him that Ten-Ten seemed slightly disappointed by his answer. Naruto gave them a foxy grin.

"Wow, I could never get Sakura to go shopping with me. So do you two do other things together? And do Gai and Lee usually join in since their on your team also," asked the blond thinking that his question was perfectly innocent.

Hinata blushed heavily and shook her head at his question. Neji face for once held a state of shock. Ten-ten however had a look of utter disgust plastered on. Just the thought of Lee and Gai doing shopping together was by any standard scary. She could just imagine the duo rushing down the aisles grabbing on food they would declare possessed the spring time of youth. She felt sick suddenly, trying not to think of the other things implied.

Ten-ten could barely manage to make it through a single mission with Gai and Lee, having them around for only missions or training was best for her well being...as well as theirs. Neji was the first to recover from the shock of Naruto's question and decided that staying here and conversing any longer with said blond would lead to possibly worse questions, to which he didn't want to imagine the answers.

"Uzumaki-san..," Neji halted his speech for a moment allowing himself to collect all his thoughts on the fact Naruto was acting stranger then usual. "It's good you have taken the advice of others to eat something other then ramen," he said giving him a slight nod and walking around the blond, Ten-Ten followed close behind giving Naruto a wave good-bye.

Naruto allowed himself to breathe freely again, just being under Neji's stare was hard on anyone friend or foe. But when you were trying to lie to those pupil-less eyes it nearly felt like having a gateway to your soul opened. He gave a small sigh as he and Hinata shared a common thought: That was scary.

Hinata sighed in tandem with Naruto. She was very glad that Neji hadn't seen through Naruto's pocket to where she was. She couldn't imagine what kind of mayhem it would have caused if they'd been discovered. Then she began to wonder if anyone had realized she was missing from the Hyuuga mansion.

The Hyuuga compound was already into its standard routine as the branch and main house did their jobs. The branch house cooked both house meals and began to do all the laundry from the beds. The branch house had many special orders, one was that on the days active Hyuuga ninja were free from all missions their rooms would be cleaned after noon to allow them rest

An older branch house woman near her thirties was the sole entrusted person in charge of cleaning the head of the main house families rooms. She was a tired looking woman with short black hair, and hands that had seen strenuous hours of manual labor. She had just finished cleaning Hiashi's bedroom and study, and now had to get to his daughters'.

She didn't care much for Hiashi or the main house much, but she did enjoy the company of the kind Hinata. She gave a knock on the door and waited for the routine of the young girl to open the door and ask her to enter. Unfortunately, the routine ended at her knock as no answer came from the young heir.

She wrinkled her brow in wonder of what could've happened, but it was likely the girl had left the compound already. She pulled the door aside and immediately noticed a young family figure lying face down on the floor. She gave a tiny smile at how cute it was to see the poor child still exhausted, but decided it best to excuse herself.

"Pardon my intrusion, Hinata-sama," she said.

Slowly, comfort soon converted itself into panic as she noticed said light sleeping girl didn't even move from her sound.

"Hinata-sama," she asked again shaking the unconscious figure, which seemed to possess a calm only the dead knew.

A single sound then pierced the compound causing the guards, house members, and even Hiashi to feel their blood run cold.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Hiashi had been inside his study, he had just finished his meeting with the clan elders and was already needing to sign much needed paperwork in regards to clan funds, and house squabbles he didn't wish to deal with. He heard the scream echo through the halls, and was immediately deciding whether it was best he go see what happened or allow the guards to deal with it.

He came to his decision, slowly rising from his chair and walking to where he best could discern where the sound had come from. He kept himself from running and going into a panic, since it would be considered weak and useless. He soon approached the hall he knew was the location of his daughters' rooms. He immediately assumed Hinata had seen something scary and screamed.

House members had crowded around the room door keeping him from entering, this disappointed him since everyone should have gone about their business.

"What is the reason of this disturbance," he asked the crowd.

None answered him, but he knew something was terribly wrong for some many trained clan members to be wearing looks of sorrow. They parted to allow him a view.

Hiashi gazed upon the scene in front of him, two of his clan's doctors kneeling at Hinata's side. They were taking her pulse and checking her with a diagnostic jutsu.

"What has happened," his tone as unwavering as a mountain.

Both doctor's seemed to ignore him as they worked feverishly.

"Her pulse is dangerously low, she feels abnormally cold too. We need to get her to a hospital, she isn't responding."

The doctor's quickly took her and vanished in a cloud of leaves to their clan's personal infirmary. The crowd stayed there in shock as Hiashi began walking by them.

"Go alert the Hokage of this medical emergency. Keep it secret...now."

All of the clan members left in a hurry, knowing what needed to be done. Hiashi blinked a few times around his daughter's room, making sure nothing was odd. He stopped himself keeping his mask of a stern uncaring man on, but was unable to hide everything. He felt his hands shaking, and noticed a small trickle of blood coming from a fist clinched far too tight. He took in a deep breath, leaving the room. He appeared calm on the outside this time, but knew already of the pain he began to drown in within.


	3. Good day or Bad day?

Tsunade sat in her office nearly asleep due to the massive amount of paperwork that was nearly driving her to the brink. It truly was the bane of her existence. The blond sighed giving her sore temples a much needed massage. Her little spa treatment she so dearly needed was abruptly interrupted as a small raven haired woman burst through her office door.

The female's pupil less eyes identified her as a Hyuuga clan member, while the caged bird seal neatly set upon her forehead only confirmed her status as a branch house member. Tsunade glared at the girl given her already agitated mood.

"Hokage-sama, please forgive me for this intrusion, I know this is highly improper of me," she pleaded throwing herself on instinct to her hands and knees, bowing

to show not only her respect but need for forgiveness.

Tsunade yawned, feeling it ridiculous that this etiquette crap was constantly required from all persons, even through she often preferred having a non formal conversation with anyone over a formal one.

"Its alright, now what is it that the Hyuuga are requesting now," she asked with the evident lackluster in her voice, since any clan that used a seal to control its own members was revolting.

"Ho-Hokage-sama," she faltered as tears of distress began to overflow. "Hiashi-sama has requested for your presence at the clan compound, this is a urgent matter which requires your skills. I am not allowed to speak of anything specific to avoid inciting panic...please Hokage-sama...please," she broke down letting her tears form puddles under her still bowed head.

Tsunade blinked a few times confused at this sudden change of request, she sighed standing from her chair and walking to the distraught girls side.

"Hyuuga-san, things will be alright, please follow me," Tsunade left the office with the short raven haired girl in tow.

"Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked a bit startled that her sensei was leaving her office since she had other meetings throughout the day.

"Shizune, I will be out for the time being. Don't tell anyone who I have met with, or where I am leaving to."

Shizune nodded knowing her sensei wouldn't issue such an order without proper reason.

"Hai."

*V*

Both Naruto, and Hinata shared a harmonized sigh as they finally accomplished the surprisingly stressful act of simply shopping for groceries, without being caught by anyone. Naruto got to work putting away the items they had purchased while Hinata began to wonder what she could wear since bandages weren't exactly comfortable.

"Um Naruto-kun," she asked as she suddenly rose up to the right side of his face and began poking him on the cheek.

"Huh," Naruto asked out loud, wondering how Hinata had moved his arm without him knowing about it.

She was only attached to his hand so how could she have more control over some of his body?

"Hinata-chan? Are you able to control that side of my body," he probed, wanting to answer some questions which had been eating at him.

"Um I'm not sure," Hinata began, trying to move herself around and soon realizing that she could actually control the movement of Naruto's right arm.

"I can move your arm," she proclaimed, suddenly yanking his right arm straight into the air.

"GAH!"

Naruto screamed as it felt like his arm was being pulled out of its socket, that and the jolt lifted him off his feet.

"AH! Gomen," said a now worried Hinata as she moved down to check on her surprised blond crush.

"Its alright Hinata, that's really awesome that you have control over that arm. Guess you can help me out if I can't see something coming."

He gave her one of his goofy smiles which made her blush a deep red and pull her hands to her cheeks.

"Hinata how were you able to disguise yourself back at the store? Do you still have access to your chakra?"

Hinata blinked a few times remembering that it had truly been a spur of the moment thing, but now she was just as curious as he was.

"Henge," she said forming the simple seal with her fingers.

A small puff of smoke appeared and dissipated leaving a normal looking left hand.

"Amazing," smiled the blond, happy that she could henge so it would be a lot easier next time they wanted to be out in public.

"Can you still use your other abilities?"

The henge quickly vanished and Hinata formed her family seal.

"Byakugan."

She was shocked when the veins in her eyes didn't change and her sight was normal.

"Um, I can't activate my blood limit," she blinked feeling suddenly naked after losing a skill which had always been a part of her.

"I guess its only natural you can't use your blood limit since this isn't your body huh?"

"That makes sense," she said feeling the pride in her abilities deflated since she no longer had them.

Naruto took a moment to think about the other thing on his mind since this strange morning. Where exactly was Hinata's real body? And not only that, was she ever going to be able to return?

He sighed not wanting to think any further. As it was, Hinata probably was more confused and worried then he was. He was at least fully human size; while she was only about seven inches tall, lost her blood limit, and was now forced to spend time with him. He gave an exasperated sigh only to have a worried Hinata in his face the next instant.

"Hmm," he moaned confused by her obvious look of distress.

"Naruto-kun, have I done something wrong," she asked, suddenly looking like she was on the verge of tears.

"Nani," he blinked a few times

"You just started staring at me, and you began looking sad. I'm sorry that this had to happen I…"

Naruto silenced Hinata by lightly rubbing her left cheek with his index finger.

"Hinata, you've done nothing wrong. This just happened somehow, but I'm sure things will return to normal."

He gave her a comforting smile which made her sadness melt under the sun which was his presence.

"Arigatou Naruto-kun, but I wouldn't mind being able to stay like this," she whispered as she wiped the tiny tears from her moistened eyes against his finger.

Naruto was stunned for a moment at the face Hinata had on. He couldn't truly understand it, but when she smiled…even with the tears leaking from her closed eyes….she was so beautiful it was stunning. He gulped and turned his head away with a small blush, doing his best to keep from having any other thoughts.

Hinata smiled as she cleared her throat of the eminent wetness.

"Ahem, well I guess I should start making dinner before it gets too late."

She lightly pulled Naruto's arm, leading him to a kitchen counter top as she began to grab the small items to prepare her special dish.

"Um, Naruto-kun," she whispered.

"Hmm," he replied noticing her pointing to the cutting board.

"Would you please help me in making dinner?"

He blinked a few times considering if he would help or not. It wasn't that he disliked the idea of doing his share, but the truth was Naruto could barely make ramen let alone try and make a whole meal from scratch.

"Umm," he stuttered, unsure how to answer.

Hinata caught on easily to Naruto's nervousness, and quickly alleviated it.

"Don't worry Naruto-kun, I'll tell you exactly what to do," she smiled one of her rare smiles, closing her eyes and revealing a small amount of her teeth.

Naruto was left stunned once again by the beauty he hadn't noticed before in Hinata. Her smile somehow made him feel like he could continue taking on the world, he could endure the pain of his life longer.

"Arigato, Hinata," he smiled flexing his left arm. "Alright, Lets get to work," he shouted as they began their task.

Tsunade sighed deeply as she finally arrived at the great gates of the Hyuuga family compound. The guards at the gate remained stern and unconcerned, even with the Fifth Hokage honoring them with her presence. The younger Hyuuga approached both the guards who had been expecting her return. The great gates cracked opened, allowing both parties to enter into the compound. Tsunade was confused by the atmosphere inside, the branch house members were carrying out their usual business of house work and other chores to keep the compound clean.

'There doesn't seem to be a urgent need for me here,' she thought, feeling her time here was being wasted as she followed her female companion to the main house section of the mansion. After a maze worthy amount of twists and turns, the girl came to a sudden halt outside a large set of polished oak doors. The young Hyuuga knocked on the gargantuan doors twice, and waited on her knees for a response.

"Enter," came a stern voice.

The Hyuuga female pushed the door in and entered into Hiashi's study. The room wasn't decorated at all, the walls were plain white while the floor was hard wood. The only signs of decoration were the large desk in the center of the room and the even larger book shelf, neatly stacked full of books and files.

"Hiashi-sama, I have done as you ordered me to. I have brought Hokage-sama to meet you. No one else knows of the reason for this meeting I assure you," she spoke downward without making eye contact with the clan head.

"Hikari…you are dismissed," he said, though with his calm tone it did seem more like a order.

The female bowed deeply and closed the door behind her as she left, leaving Tsunade alone with a person who she despised not for his personality, but his superiority complex.

"Hokage-sama, may I first apologize for the suddenness of this appointment," he said keeping his collected calmness. "There is currently a situation concerning a member of my family for which I need your assistance."

Tsunade did her best to hide her sigh, but already figured what was coming.

"Hiashi-san, as sorry as I am to tell you, the removal of clan members is strictly up to the clan head, if you'll excuse me I shall see myself out," she said bowing respectfully and began to back away.

"Hokage-sama, don't take me as a fool. I know all the rules and laws concerning the clan and village privileges, however, that is not the reason I have requested for your presence."

He rose from his chair and turned to his bookshelves, suddenly seeming to find the large folders and scrolls fascinating. Hiashi reached behind the shelf finding a small engraving of a seal. It glowed a pale blue as he channeled his chakra through it, causing the wall to retreat into the ceiling to reveal a hidden set of stairs.

"If you would please follow me, Hokage-sama," he said already leading down the stairwell.

Tsunade followed close behind the Hyuuga not truly knowing what else to expect. She wasn't surprised there were hidden passages since it was a ninja village. She was more curious to why Hiashi would be evading so much from the issue, unless it were something that could make his clan appear weak.

The passage stairs stopped abruptly at a long corridor, lined by granite walls with torches placed every so hundred feet to provide enough light to locate the floor and ones companions. Tsunade was confused when they both halted before a traditional paper sliding door, seeming completely out of place in the almost dungeon.

"Before I allow you entrance Hokage-sama, I remind you the following issue is a high level clan secret, and I am sure you will honor your obligations to the clans of this village and make sure it remain so."

"Hiashi-san, you requested me come here and keep it a secret. Yet you have told me nothing of the current situation, and continue to insult me by questioning my ability to maintain a clan secret. If you don't explain the current situation to me immediately, I will leave you and your clan to their crisis and secrets."

Tsunade spoke with just enough hostility in her voice to make even the calm Hyuuga lose his calm and flinch. He didn't speak a word and merely slid the door away from sight, behind the door was a room as large as the clan head's study. The plain white room was filled with medical supplies from heart monitors to feeding IV bags. Tsunade's attention immediately came to the young female Hyuuga lying lifeless in a hospital gown with a excessive number of tubes connecting her to the machines around the bed.

"Hinata was found in her room in this state Hokage-sama, and no signs of poisoning or a struggle were found. I am unsure what her condition may be, however, given she is still clan heir I requested your medical opinion on the matter."

Tsunade gritted her teeth at his never ending emptiness of emotion, sure Hiashi was a ninja but this was his daughter possibly dead on a table! He acted as if she were a simple cog of a machine that wasn't functioning. She immediately began using a diagnostic jutsu to see if she could hopefully cure whatever afflicted Hinata.

*V*

The task took a few hours, but neither party seemed to notice how fast the time was passing. Even though it was only the first day in their current state, both of them weren't allowing the stress or worry to hamper their moods. They considered their time cooking to be a little miracle in itself. Hinata was happy to get to finally cook a meal specifically for her and Naruto, and also for once being able to be freely happy and expressive around him without fainting at just the sound of his voice. Naruto was ecstatic that his home wasn't quiet. Hinata was actually his first guest who actually stayed and held conversation with him, and also was the first of his friends to cook for him. Sakura-chan had once tried to cook for him but it had been a disaster, leaving Naruto happy that the kyuubi made him invulnerable to poisoning.

Hinata smiled with joy as she placed the last of the dinner onto the plate, and finished the touches on her own little plate which was the sauce tasting dish they had been using. The meal was definitely something Naruto wasn't used to seeing. He honestly didn't have a clue how all those little ingredients could turn into such a delicious smelling meal. Hinata had made him a lemon herb spiced fish, a mix of green leaks and sprigs on white rice, and a mound of home made ramen noodles mixed with a pepper root and ginger broth. She couldn't help but giggle at Naruto who looked like he was about to drown himself with the trail of drool leaking from his right cheek.

"It looks amazing, Hinata," he praised her as he grabbed his chop sticks, "The only problem is I don't know what to start with," he sweat dropped and grabbed the carton of milk he always drank with each meal.

"Wait!" came the desperate cry of his tiny companion.

"What?" he partly grunted, having the mouth of the carton attached to his lips.

She lightly tapped his right hand, making him set the milk back down.

"It is considered proper to eat any meal with water or tea, to prevent flavors from being covered up," she whispered, feeling the red return to her cheeks, it felt embarrassing and rude to correct her love.

"Oh, gomen," he smiled nervously, placing the milk down. "ITADAKIMATSU," he yelled as he slowly tasted the items in front of him one at a time. "Its delicious," he nearly screamed as he began shoving the food into his mouth at a alarming rate.

Hinata ate slowly, doing her best to use the two toothpicks as chopsticks, but occasionally she would stop and stare at Naruto, admiring the fact he was deeply enjoying the spectrum of flavors her dinner was delivering to his mouth.

Naruto stopped noticing Hinata eating slowly. He felt a flash of guilt, thinking about how he probably was being rude by stuffing as much food into his face as quickly as possible. The feeling was replaced by the comfort he felt when she suddenly gave him a big smile after she had taken a bite of her own meal. Cute was the only thought occurring in the blonde's mind. She was dazzling in a way he himself couldn't fully comprehend, yet somehow she was finally able to show him, after so much time, what the real Hinata behind the fainting and shyness was.

They both continued eating in satisfied silence and experienced a united feeling of peace, which neither had ever had the pleasure of possessing. Naruto gave a contented sigh, having both his mind and stomach happy for a change.

"Hey…Hinata?"

"Yes," she asked, wiping her face with a small cloth and moving up to Naruto's face to clean any bits of dinner left on his cheeks he might have missed.

"Thank you Hinata…chan, the food was amazing," he stuttered, giving the chan ending on her name a try almost as if seeing if it felt right coming out of his mouth.

Hinata squeaked and immediately covered her face with the cloth feeling the blush in her face make her turn completely red.

"I'm….glad…you..enjoyed it Na..Naruto-kun," she forced out trying her hardest to get her blush under control…but Naruto had just called her Hinata-chan. She wanted to giggle with joy, it felt as if she could burst from the happiness she was filled with. Just one single day with Naruto, and she felt like heaven couldn't compare with the sensation of just being around him without fainting.

Naruto was glad Hinata had covered her face, since he was blushing himself. He decided it was best to clean up their mess as he began carrying all the dishes back to the sink and washing them so they would be dry by tomorrow.

"I could do the cleaning Naruto-kun," she pleaded ,trying her hardest to get the sponge from his left hand.

"We've done everything else together, why not this?"

He smiled, giving Hinata the sponge so he could hold each dish until she finished scrubbing it clean. The dishes were done shortly and neither had noticed how quickly time had passed by. They had spent so much time conversing about how to travel outside without being caught, cooking, and just spending time together neither had noticed the sun setting.

Naruto gave a loud yawn, which was followed shortly by a more high pitched one belonging to his miniature companion.

"I'm tired Naruto-kun, can we please get some rest," Hinata pleaded, believing they both needed the rest after such a worrisome day.

Naruto just gave her a giant toothy smile as he began to strip down to solely his boxers and plop himself down on his tiny bed. He gave a deep satisfied sigh as he lie there going over the problems and pleasures of the day. True, not having both hands was a big problem, however, he had gained not only a close friend to talk with but a loving kind hearted girl to lighten these days.

Hinata snuggled up against Naruto's body, trying her best to be comfortable in a place that wouldn't cramp her loves arm. She couldn't fully explain it, but if this was a curse or some form of torture used on her, she prayed it would never end. Because even if it meant she had to give up her blood limit, and full size body, if she was able to spend more time with Naruto-kun she would willing give them up forever to stay with him.

"Um Naruto-kun"

"Hmm?" he grunted almost already asleep

"Could we please go to the shrine tomorrow? It's a tradition in my family that we do every Sunday."

"Sure thing Hinata-chan."

He yawned and abruptly went into a deep sleep.

"Thank you Naruto-kun," she said, blushing, and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "good night," she whispered falling into a serene sleep for once in a long time.

*V*

Tsunade walked through the compound halls, deep in thought as to what could've done such a thing. She was known for being the top medic in the world, and there were no roots, herbs, poisons, or jutsus that could put the body into such a state. Hinata's vitals had been steady, yes, but almost that of someone who was in a coma. Her brain seemed active….but for some reason the girl just wouldn't awaken.

Hiashi followed closely behind her, he had watched calm and collective as the procedure of checking and testing his daughter had occurred. He had numerous questions still. Though the only one of great concern was one he couldn't cease himself from asking repetitively.

"What is it that is wrong with her," he asked once more as he and the Hokage approached the clan gates.

Tsunade sighed deeply, her mood at a all time low. For one she was tired and needed to get her rest since she had a village to run. Second she was so confused on the possible reason for the girl's state it gave her a headache. And lastly Hiashi had been a broken record asking the same question for the tenth time that evening.

"Hiashi-san, your daughter isn't suffering from any type of physical affliction. From what I can diagnose there shouldn't be anything wrong with her, but for some reason she doesn't seem able to awaken. All I can advise you Hyuuga-san is to make sure she is comfortable and taken care of. I will return to reevaluate her every two days, make sure to inform me if anything should occur," Tsunade ordered as she gave a respectful bow and let herself out.

Hiashi waited there patiently for a few moments to allow everything to sink in, he lowered his head and walked the winding path back to his study. He acted as he always did, emotionless, a true the sign of leader to be able to keep cool when things were harsh. He sat in his desk chair and immediately opened up a drawer and removed the bottom of it to reveal a secret storage box. He reached inside pulling out a small blue jewelry box which had a intricate pattern of blue plant vines with a gold outlined Hyuuga symbol in the center. He twisted the latches on the back popping the top open revealing no jewels, no diamonds, no precious stones, but something the clan head treasured above everything of value.

Inside was an old photo of his deceased wife Hana, Hinata newly born, and him next to her. But the only thing making it more special to him was it was the only photo anyone had of him when he actually had a smile upon his face. He stared into the calming eyes of his wife. Behind closed doors, where no one could see or judge him, Hyuuga Hiashi did something he had swore he wouldn't sink to since he lost Hana. He openly sulked and prayed to kami who he blamed for stealing his happiness, not to take anything more from him.


	4. The Meaning of a flower part 1

He wasn't sure if he was awake or not, it felt far too real for it to have been just a simple dream. The blond was standing in a crowd surrounding the Ichiraku ramen shop, the raffle he had entered was being drawn today. The shop had been expanding so well lately that they had sold over 30,000 tickets for the prize of a free life-time supply of ramen. Naruto stood there rubbing his only ticket between his fingers, like a child with his favorite toy. Ayame grabbed onto the large basket full of stubs, giving it a powerful pull making it become a blur. Old man Teuchi waited for the spinning to cease, than reached into the basket and searched with his eyes closed tight.

"Alright our grand prize winner is number 13,472," he shouted into the mob before him, who as a mass was checking their numbers.

Naruto blinked twice making sure he wasn't imagining things as he stared at his ticket reading 13,472.

"I WON," he screamed, jumping up and making the crowd and old man Teuchi pale at the thought of feeding the bottomless ramen pit known only as Uzumaki Naruto.

He immediately ran through the crowd, pushing and shoving his way to the shop. It had to be a dream come true, not as amazing as when he planned to become Hokage, but this was his stomach's dream come true. He ran inside the shop, noticing a countless number of bowls lined up ahead of him.

"ITADAKIMATSU," he yelled at the top of his lungs, dashing as fast as he could to a stool, then suddenly dunking his face into a oversize bowl.

The sensation was indescribable, the flavors were dancing through his mouth and over his tongue. He was savoring his lifetime supply of noodle and salty broth joy.

He soon found himself needing air and decided it was time to actually eat like a human being, unless he figured he wouldn't be needing to be alive for much longer. He grabbed a pair of chopsticks and delicately picked up a bundle of noodles and guided it into the void which was his mouth.

"NARUTO-KUN," he heard the noodles scream at him and he wondered how the ramen was talking.

"NARUTO-KUN STOP," he heard it scream again, and recognized the voice as Hinata's.

Naruto groaned and opened his eyes to the morning light, he blinked a few times starting to come to terms with being part of the living again. He furrowed his brow as he allowed his morning urge to stretch take over. He began by wanting to reach his arms out, and soon came to realize his right hand was in his mouth. He felt something resembling skin and hair present also.

"Naruto-kun help me," he heard a muffled Hinata scream as she tried to keep his mouth from closing with her arms. The blond's eyes became saucers as he began to remove said person from his mouth. Hinata stared at him with a look of distrust and quite a bit of fright.

"Are you alright Hinata-chan," he asked, while trying to reach out and wipe some of the saliva from her hair. Hinata took a deep breath, happy to have access to air once again and not being in any danger due to razor sharp teeth.

"Naruto-kun…"

"Yes," he asked, waiting in anticipation.

"Can we please get clean," she begged, not wanting to sound too hurt, but her feelings of fright were still evident in her voice.

He gave an exasperated sigh and began his walk to the shower to begin day two of what was hopefully a less disastrous than the day before.

The morning had started in a state of disaster, since Naruto had nearly eaten Hinata thinking she was the ramen noodles of his dreams. Firstly, he was embarrassed that he nearly had consumed poor little Hinata, but also was distressed that she looked so afraid at that moment it made him feel sick to his stomach. He let the feelings flow into the back of his mind as he dried Hinata and himself after her much needed shower.

"I'm sorry, Hinata-chan."

"Hmm? What for Naruto-kun," she wondered why he was apologizing for no reason.

"I didn't mean to scare you this morning. I guess it can be problematic when I dream about eating things," he said, feeling guilty as he looked into her innocent lavender eyes.

"There isn't any reason to apologize, Naruto-kun. I know it wasn't your fault. You were dreaming about ramen weren't you," she asked while ruffling the last of the water from her hair.

Naruto blinked a few times, confused. She must have watched him for so long that she could predict what he even dreamed about.

"Yes, Hinata-chan. I dreamed I won a life-time supply of Ichiraku ramen," he smiled at the memory, though stunned by the way Hinata's smile brightened.

"If that's the case then I am very happy," she whispered, covering her body with the small wash cloth she was drying with.

"Nani," asked Naruto, even more dazed.

"I know how much ramen makes you happy, Naruto-kun. So its no surprise you would try your hardest to eat it even dreaming. I'm just glad you had a pleasant dream also, since spending time with you without fainting has always been one of mine," she whispered, blushing a dark red; but not fainting, which she was growing ever more thankful for.

Naruto was shocked at how freely Hinata forgave him. It was amazing to him how much kindness was hidden inside the shy girl. They both finished getting clean, then walked back to Naruto's bed to re bandage Hinata so she would be decent.

Naruto sweat dropped as he opened his medical case to find a now empty roll of medical tape.

"Damn," he mumbled, but it didn't go unnoticed by the miniature Hyuuga.

"What's wrong Naruto-kun," she questioned, keeping the cloth tightly around herself.

"We're out of bandages, so there isn't anything for you to wear," he groaned

"Oh don't worry I took care of that while you were sleeping," she proclaimed as she suddenly darted under the sheets and began swaying around underneath.

"TA DA," she yelled, coming out of the covers.

Naruto was beyond words, his kind companion was now wearing a tiny shirt which was over sized on her form. However, what surprised the hyperactive ninja more was the fact the shirt was entirely orange, except for the white wording on the front saying "I love Naruto-kun!" and the whirlpool symbol on the back.

"Well, what do you think," she asked with a light blush, slowly turning fully around giving Naruto a fashion show.

Naruto Uzumaki was, for once, unable to express himself in words. He couldn't bring himself to make sense of the numerous thoughts flowing about in his head. He was shocked, amazed, bewildered, and captivated at the same time.

"Beautiful," he barely whispered, making sense of his jumble of thoughts.

Hinata squealed, blushing madly into her hands to the point she gave a tomato a run for it's money.

"Thank you."

Naruto blinked a few times, finally starting to catch up with his random thoughts.

"Um Hinata-chan…where did you get that," he asked perplexed now, since it was doubtful she bought it.

"Oh…I made it while you were sleeping Naruto-kun."

"From what?"

"Well you damaged your orange jacket yesterday, and since I didn't think you would use it again I hoped you wouldn't mind if I used it to make some clothing for myself."

"Of course I don't mind, but I didn't think you would know how to sew. I thought the branch house of the Hyuuga clan did all the chores?"

"Yes. That's correct, Naruto-kun…," Hinata said lightly, rubbing her fingers together in nervousness.

"Then how do you know how to sew if others usually took care of it for you? I mean, you're possibly the only person in the whole village who is the closest thing to a princess."

Hinata poked her index fingers together, a blush spreading across her cheeks. If she was a princess did that mean Naruto was her prince? She quickly forgot that thought to answer Naruto's misconception of life as a clan heir.

"Naruto-kun, the branch house does take care of the chores, but that doesn't mean that the main house doesn't do things for themselves."

"Huh?"

"As a clan heir, Naruto-kun, I decided to take it upon myself to experience all the chores we force upon the branch house, so I could become a better clan leader for them just in hopes that I could bring the two houses together," she mumbled, feeling embarrassed to share her dreams with Naruto.

Naruto sat for a second and digested her words. He slowly smiled, thinking it was pretty cool that Hinata had a dream of one day becoming a better person to lead her clan into a more unified era. But the fact she didn't think the main house was superior to the branch one spoke greatly of her sense of equality, let alone kindness.

"Its pretty awesome for you to think like that Hinata, You would think with a father like Hiashi your outlook would be one of the superior part of the clan," he laughed.

Hinata rubbed her hands together feeling more distressed then usual, and it wasn't due to talking about her father.

Naruto noticed the frown on his companion's face causing him to start backpedaling the best he could.

"Um…well….I mean…I'm sure Hiashi-sama is a good man in..."

"Its okay, Naruto-kun."

"What," he asked, confused at her unwillingness to defend her father.

"Naruto-kun, its true that my father is convinced that the main house is higher than the branch family, but it was my mother who taught me that all of the members of the family are equal," she stated trying her hardest to not let any tears fall from her eyes.

"Your mother? Um... you never talked about her, I mean you haven't said much but you...?"

"Its okay, Naruto-kun. My mother, Hana, died when I was very young. It was only two years after my sister Hanabi was born."

Naruto went silent, not exactly sure what to say. He wanted to tell Hinata he was sorry, but he couldn't. He himself had never even gotten to know his mom, or dad, all he knew was how parents were supposed to treat their children. How they were supposed to love them, and comfort them. He didn't get that chance, but Hinata had lost that warmth after experiencing it even if it wasn't for as long as she hoped.

"I'm sorry, Hinata-chan," he spoke, trying to be kind and noticing how she slowly pressed her face against his chest.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun," she whispered back, feeling a bit sad when thinking of the things she had lost, yet happy to be spending time with someone who made her feel happy and special.

Naruto smiled and decided they couldn't spend their day feeling down, after all they were supposed to visit the shrine since Hinata had requested it.

"Um, Hinata-chan…we should start heading for the shrine shouldn't we?" He half laughed feeling her slowly loosen you grip on him.

"Al..alright," she whimpered as Naruto carried her to the front door, "Um, Naruto-kun?"

"Hmm," he grunted in question, putting a replica orange jacket on.

"Thank you," she said before forming a hand seal and becoming the shape of a normal right hand. Naruto gave her a confused look, but decided to ignore it since he needed to go and get some flowers before heading to the shrine.

***V***

She didn't understand why she was the only one of the family who was stuck with doing this, it was one thing to be feminine and good looking kunoichi. However, Ino didn't think that waking up at nine in the morning to open a flower shop, which would be empty until after noon, was a girly chore. She did her best to hide her displeasure, but like pushing a ball into water the harder she forced it down the harder it pushed right back at her. She gave a loud groan looking around after the fact to make sure no one had been present to witness her random act of aggravation.

Time seemed to stand still for her, while she watched the clock on the wall torment her, taking it's sweet time to complete another minute bringing her closer to her freedom when her mother returned.

'Why am I awake when I should be catching up on my sleep? I probably look horrible with these bags under my eyes,' she grumbled to herself while checking her tired face in the mirror.

***CLANG***

Ino jumped, feeling the sleepiness shake off as she began her routine of greeting a new customer.

"Welcome to the Yamanaka flower shop," she smiled with her eyes closed, only to note a familiar orange clad blond entering with a somewhat nervous look on his face.

"Hey, Naruto," she grumbled leaning her chin on her palm to rest.

She figured if it was one of her friends it wouldn't matter if she put on a poor work performance or not.

"Heya," he responded, carefully going along the walls of the store, focusing incredibly hard to find the flower that Hinata had told him to get.

**5minutes earlier**

Naruto carefully placed his back to a wall in an alley way so no one would be able to catch sight of him, or his now non transformed companion.

"Hinata-chan, what flowers are we looking for exactly?"

"Well…," she thought for a moment, trying to decide on the proper selection she was to make since she wasn't just going to pray alone to kami, she did have her beloved in tow.

"I think a apple blossom, gardenia, and a white lily will be what we need," she smiled, seeing Naruto sweat drop since he probably had no idea what the flowers looked like or meant.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Ino will be happy to help you find the right flowers."

Naruto gulped and sighed, feeling uneasy since they didn't have a set way of communicating with each other when in disguise. He would be on his own for a bit.

"Here we go," he gave a confident smile even though on the inside he was crying in fear of being caught.

**Present.**

"Um, Ino-chan, can you help me find a few flowers," he partly laughed, noticing the gloom around said girl. If he knew anything from his experience with Sakura-chan it could quickly turn into rage.

"Hmm? What do you need flowers for so early in the morning," she asked giving a slight yawn before rising from her chair.

"Its for something special," he deflected.

Ino's brow rapidly lifted at hearing that this was something special, and quickly thought she had it figured out.

"Planning to give forehead girl a beautiful bouquet to get a little kissy kissy," she asked, feeling some joy in knowing her best friend/rival at least had someone chasing after her.

Naruto turned his head away, trying not to blush. He had tried that before by using pink roses, which got him hit in the face since the young Sakura at the time was constantly teased about her hair color and figured he was being a jerk.

"Um, its actually for someone else beca…," he didn't have time to even finish his thought before Ino was nearly on him and trying to pull all the information out of him that she could.

"Really? So tell me, who is this someone? Is it somebody I know?"

Ino loved many things but when it came to gossip she had a uncontrollable desire to know everything about everyone. Hinata was trying her hardest to remain quiet, she knew better than anyone that Naruto had a crush on Sakura. Even knowing that didn't make her feel any less jealous when she heard Ino predicting that was what the flowers were for.

'Naruto-kun, please just get the flowers and lets go,' she thought, trying her hardest to keep from blurting out that the flowers were for a shrine visit.

Ino kept in Naruto's face and continued to press the question.

"Come on, Naruto. Who is the lucky girl," she pleaded, trying to get the loud mouth to let it leak.

"Well I just need them for something…not for someone," he laughed nervously, hoping that Ino would let him leave without further probing.

Ino furrowed her brow, and gave the blond boy a look which shouted "I don't trust you".

"Alright, Naruto, what type of flowers do you need?"

"All I need is an apple blossom, gardenia, and a white lily."

"That's a bit specific, but I think I have some in storage," she said, making a quick exit to the back room.

Naruto sighed. Why is it no one cared about his personal business until the day Hinata showed up on his right hand?

It took a few minutes, but Ino returned with the each flower inside a bouquet together.

"Alright will this be it? No roses for the special something," she half asked, though the intention to tease said blond was more than evident.

"No, I'll just take these," he gave one of his goofy smiles, laying the necessary money on the table.

"Thank you, Ino," he shouted as he left to the shrine.

Ino went and sat back behind the counter and made sure to note the fact Naruto was acting stranger than usual. He had known which flowers to pick so specifically, and she doubted he had any teaching about the meaning behind flowers. She was a little confused why he would take a white lily. It commonly meant purity and modesty, but if given to someone close it meant 'being with you is heavenly'. A mischievous smile spread across her lips at the thought of how much fun this was; because now she knew that Naruto was seeing somebody, and that gave her more reason to get forehead girl to help her figure it out.


	5. The Meaning of a flower part 2

Naruto stared at the wooden gate that lead into the local shrine. It had been a long time since he visited, because the priests and monks commonly chased him away saying that demons didn't deserve to pray to kami. Naruto made his favorite hand seal, happy to feel his chakra form and having two shadow clones go ahead to make sure there weren't many people present. Naruto smiled happily when he felt a clone dispel itself and it seemed the shrine was empty. Hinata dispelled her disguise, happy to not be treated like a normal appendage anymore. She had been surprised Naruto could use her when he performed jutsus, but also curious if he used his own chakra or if they were both just sharing Naruto's.

Hinata stretched out her arms, feeling like it had been ages since she had moved though it had only been about a hour since they had left their home. This, of course, caused the shy Hyuuga to blush since by calling it their home it made it seem like they were together as a couple.

Naruto proceeded, oblivious to his companions reddened cheeks, and entered into the main courtyard of the shrine standing in front of the alter.

"Well here we are," he smiled, placing the flowers down and finally relaxing now that they were both away from most seeing eyes.

"Thank you for bringing me here, Naruto-kun," said the small girl as she placed her hands together and began to pray to kami.

Naruto stood there feeling uneasy. Since he had never truly come to a shrine this was actually his first time and he didn't know what would be proper to pray for.

"Is something wrong Naruto-kun? Your being quiet and that's not normally how you act," she stated, turning to him and offering a comforting smile.

"Um…its ah…," he trailed on not sure how exactly to explain his situation.

"Its alright to be nervous. I'm just as worried that someone might find us here like this, but I just needed to make sure we came here today."

"Why?"

"It's a tradition for me. My mother always used to bring our family here once a week to offer our prayers to kami."

"Oh…wait, but I thought clans have their own shrines to keep from having to deal with overcrowding from other villagers?"

Hinata stopped and looked Naruto in the eye. She knew that the Hyuuga clan did try to keep all matters strictly within the compound walls, but it didn't make her feel good knowing he assumed that her family was as isolated as the entire clan.

"Naruto-kun, my mother always brought our family here because she thought it was best for our family as clan head to be more open to the village so we wouldn't become isolated and self righteous like our Uchiha clan rivals were."

Naruto blinked a few times, absorbing what his companion told him. It made him smile when he realized that Hinata's mother was truly something special.

"Hinata-chan, what was your mother like," he asked, feeling he just needed to know more about this precious person.

Hinata paused for a moment trying to find her voice to speak about her departed parent. She didn't talk about it much, other than mentioning the memories she had of past events they did together.

"Well, she was always very kind, always smiling, and trying her best to make everyone around her happy, especially me," she partly sniffled the last part feeling the scar of loss opening just enough to allow the painful past to seep out.

"She sounds like she was a wonderful mother…Hinata-chan?"

"Yes," she sobbed quietly.

"What's it like to have parents?"

"Huh?"

"Well, I never got the chance to know either of my parents. Since the day the kyubbi attacked, I've been an orphan. So I just wanted to know what it was like to have a family," he gave her a smile, but he felt so much pain inside because it did hurt no matter how many times he spoke of it. He would never get to see or meet his parents. And to make things more painful, growing up and seeing other kids run off to the safety of their parents arms left a void in his heart he couldn't fill.

Hinata suddenly shot up to Naruto's face and put her arms around his right cheek embracing him the best she could, given her size.

"I'm sorry, I forgot that you never got to know who your parents were. I was selfish being sad over losing my mother. I at least had time to be around her and spend time with her…I..."

Naruto placed a finger on her lips doing his best to smile for her.

"Its alright, Hinata-chan. Even if I didn't get to know my parents, it must hurt a lot more to lose someone you've grown so close to."

She continued to hold onto him, smiling even with tears in her eyes again. She was starting to wonder if Naruto had the effect of making everybody feel better or just her.

She gave a light sigh and wiped away the water from her eyes.

"Well, if you really want to know, it can be both good and bad having parents Naruto-kun…"

"Nani? How can it be bad?"

"My father is Hiashi Hyuuga. Ever since he became clan head he has always wanted his children to be strong to make him look like a successful parent."

Naruto couldn't help but laugh a bit since he figured having Hiashi for a father would be quite frightening, even to his own children.

"But my mother, Hana Hyuuga, was always trying to let us have fun and enjoy ourselves. She and father were complete opposites, but they did love each other a lot. That made me happy because mother allowed us to act like children, and father was always trying to make us be proper and obedient."

"A family really does sound like a wonderful thing, Hinata-chan," Naruto smiled with his eyes down. It did sooth his pain of never having known his parents just realizing two people could provide a nurturing and loving type of environment.

Naruto quickly wiped his eyes and plastered a giant smile back on.

"We should probably hurry up and leave before someone comes."

Hinata nodded, a bit embarrassed how she had opened up to Naruto so easily and been willing to share her painful issue of family with him; but she did feel better.

Hinata bowed her head and said a little prayer, but she was surprised to turn around and see Naruto concentrating rather hard on his own words to kami.

'I pray that Naruto-kun will one day find happiness, and also that I will be able to stay with him for as long as I can to make him happy,' she thought, before clapping her hands together.

'I'm not sure exactly what I should be saying, but… I never really have asked for anything so I just want Hinata to be able to smile more and if possible could you make sure everyone precious to me stays well and happy? And if you could tell both my parents and Hinata's mom that we both are missing them,' he gave a smile before laying the flowers on the alter of the shrine and pulling the bell over it.

The two bowed and turned to leave, but now something was eating away at Naruto. He had let the issue slip his mind due to the fact he wanted to talk so much with the mini Hyuuga.

"Hinata-chan, what did the flowers we picked up mean anyways?"

Hinata gulped, feeling the blood rushing to her head make her turn cherry all over.

"Um….well….they...," she started poking her fingers together and continuing.

"Well, the Gardenia means joy, good luck, and secret love; apple blossoms are for good fortune; and the white lily means purity, modesty, and also can mean its heavenly to be with you," she felt her skin wanting to burn, it was turning so red as she spoke about the last flower.

Naruto felt the same redness run across his cheeks, forcing him suddenly to stare upwards, thinking the sky looked very interesting at the moment.

A suffocating silence passed over the two. It wasn't a tense silence but more of a awkward one since Naruto was still learning about the girl and Hinata was trying her hardest to show how much she cared for the hyper ninja.

"It is, isn't it?" Naruto partly laughed causing his companion to blink a few times to in confusion.

"What is?"

"It has been heavenly spending time with you, Hinata-chan," he gave a toothy which earned him a sudden impact of Hinata smashing herself against his face a smile which rivaled his own.

" I LOVE YOU, NARUTO-KUN," she shouted, giving him numerous kisses

Naruto was freaked out, not because the kisses weren't nice, but mostly due to the fact if someone noticed a girl on his hand kissing him it would be incredibly bad. He did, however, note the softness which were Hinata's lips. But, even still, he didn't try to stop the no longer shy Hyuuga, because it was truly odd to him that a sudden curse could become a blessing upon himself.

"Lets head home, Naruto-kun, I'm going to cook you a wonderful lunch."

Naruto suddenly heard his stomach growl and blushed at how she could read him so perfectly.

*V*

The shrine had been empty, the man gave a sigh of contentment, it was good to have monks at the shrine who were indebted to a clan since it made it easier to ask for favors. He had made sure to come in disguise. He looked like an everyday old man. He made sure to have long gray hair, he walked with a small limp on his right leg that was why he had a small cane, and even covered himself from head to toe with a plain brown robe to hide any features that might be off. He slowly walked the grounds before finding the shrine he was looking for, but something was off, the place wasn't fully empty and to make it worse it was the Uzumaki brat who was there. He was surprised, seeing as how the boy didn't seem to have any morals. He figured he wouldn't be one to come and pray at a shrine.

The man took a step back, trying his hardest to no appear out of the ordinary. If anyone spotted him here it would be incredibly bad for himself. The clan elders would question his sanity at heading to a local shrine over the clan one.

Naruto slowly walked by the man. He appeared to have a bigger smile on today and something seemed off about him, but it was hard to place he almost seemed to glow with a new kindness and joy.

The old man coughed a few times when they crossed each others path, but this unfortunately caused him to drop the cane he had been using. He stopped to pick it up, but the Uzumaki child bent down in front of him and handed the item back to him, not seeming to notice the henge at all.

"Hey, Oji-san, be careful you don't want to make things any harder on yourself," he smiled before leaving.

He grunted his response and made his way through the court yard to the shrines main alter.

"Kai," he whispered, causing the henge to break, revealing a rather distressed looking Hiashi Hyuuga. His appearance hadn't altered much, but the lack of sleep was now evident in his face with the small black blue bags which now hung from his eyes. He gave a loud groan, pulling the bouquet of almond and apple blossoms out from his robe and placing it down at the alter near a smaller looking set of flowers.

'Kami-sama, I ask you for one thing. Don't take anymore of my family from me. I ask that you please return my daughter to her normal health,' he clapped his hands and bowed, almost ready to leave, when something caught his eye.

He approached the other bouquet, noting the gardenia and white lily. He knew both their meanings since it was only proper that a clan head be well educated, but something wasn't right about it. He by no means thought much of the Uzumaki boy. It wasn't because of what lived inside of him, he wasn't stupid enough to hate the prison which held a prisoner, but he knew the boy's intelligence wasn't the highest since he was a commoner. But to use a flower which commonly meant purity or happiness with being with someone, it caused him to wonder who it was the Uzumaki had found to be with.

He disguised himself and began to head back to the compound, since he had already overstayed the time he set aside for this visit.

'Who would willing be with that trash,' he thought hard on the matter until he arrived back home when something finally clicked inside his head. Hiashi was an observant man, and he had seen the way his daughter looked at Uzumaki whenever she believed no one else was looking at her. But he also remembered how crushed she looked every time she had arrived home from the academy and that Naruto boy had been put into the hospital due to trying to ask that Haruno girl on a date.

He blinked as the conclusion finally dawned on him…the reason his daughter was lying on a hospital bed in a critical state, was because the Uzumaki boy had found someone else. He grunted and thought hard on the matter. He couldn't prove his theory in anyway so far, but he figured if there was a way to solve this he would need to keep a close eye on the Uzumaki and he knew someone who could do that for him. But before than, he figured there was only one flower shop in the whole village who could offer him such a variety and he made sure to make that his next stop.

*V*

The day had been a complete wreck. Tsunade sat at her desk, doing her very best to keep up with the work that never seemed to dwindle despite all the hard hours she put into it. She was starting to wonder if maybe she wasn't really doing paperwork and this was just some twisted high level genjutsu she couldn't help to break free from. A knock soon came at the door, it was nearing noon so it was either Sakura or Shizune since no one else showed up. She made it a propriety to never have morning meetings, unless said person wanted an aggravated super strong Hokage tearing them apart.

"Come in," she groaned, shaking her tired head.

"Tsunade-sama, I went and completed the check-up on Naruto. I couldn't find anything wrong with him, so I decided he didn't need any further medical treatment," Sakura said as she immediately walked in and handed the medical chart over to her sensei, along with all the other work she had done before hand for the past two days.

"Thank you," she yawned, placing the chart in a pile of other things which needed to be sorted.

"Is there anything else that you require me to do, sensei," Sakura asked, ready to do more medical work.

"Alright, I need you to find Naruto for me and bring him back here. Apparently, Jiraiya wants to come and give Naruto more training now that he's back in the village for a short time. But that no good pervert is too busy doing his 'research' to go and find Naruto himself, therefore, I am assigning you to bring Naruto back her as soon as possible."

"Hai, sensei," Sakura bowed and left without another word, slowly making her way to Ichiraku's since it was nearly the blonde's second home. If he wasn't there, they would know where he was without a doubt.

Sakura decided it would be best to finish this mission early. If she could find Naruto quickly that meant she could probably get the rest of the day off. She ran as fast as she could to Ichiraku's ramen stand. She jumped from roof top to roof top, making sure to cut off all the time she could. She slowly opened up the flaps but, to her surprise, saw that there wasn't anyone currently present there. Teuchi was currently cooking up another batch of ramen noodles, but quickly turned at hearing the flaps open, hoping it was his best customer.

"Oh hello," he said, recognizing the pink haired girl as one of Naruto's teammates.

"Hey have you see Naruto today? I'm supposed to find him for something important."

Teuchi shrugged his arms and gave a small look of worry.

"Your guess is as good as ours. We haven't seen him for two days now and were starting to get a little worried."

Sakura blinked a few times. Sure she didn't approve of the blond eating nothing but ramen everyday; but if Naruto went for two days without ramen, he was either in the hospital or dead. She gulped and figured going to his house wouldn't be a bad place to check next. That was until she turned to have a different aggravating blond run into her.

"Hey, forehead girl, we need to talk."

"Not now, Ino-pig, I'm trying to find Naruto so it can wait."

"But that's who we need to talk about!"

"Huh," Sakura asked, confused why they would need to talk about him.

"Naruto has a girlfriend," Ino partly sang, causing a shocked expression to bloom on the faces of both Ayame and Teuchi.

Sakura, on the other hand, felt something she never would've guessed she would feel. She was indeed shocked at this new news, but a slight part of her felt a bit of stinging pain combined with a touch of jealousy.


	6. Rumor Has It

**Author note**:

Dearest fans,

Thank you for your patience. After many problems, both physical and emotional, I have decided to post this newest chapter of Hinata Days, extra long.

PS: I must also thank my co-writer/editor, ElysianKiss, for helping me with character personalities.

Also I do not own _Naruto_ or _Midori_ _Days_.

**Chapter 6 - Rumor has it**

Sakura stood, in a state of shock. A small twinge of jealousy radiated from her heart, giving her stomach a burning ache underneath. She slowly began to recover, but wasn't as quick as the shop owner Teuchi and his daughter Ayame.

"Well that's wonderful," Ayame stated with little hearts in her eyes, thinking it was great their best customer found someone to love him.

Teuchi shared a smile to depict his happiness.

"I just hope he stops by and tells us about her. It would be a shame to lose our best customer," he added before returning to his noodles, smiling joyfully.

Sakura's mouth remained dry. She was trying to make words from the overflow of emotions she felt all trying to escape at once. She, by no means, was jealous; or at least she didn't believe that she was. Sakura had wanted for her hyperactive teammate to find someone to love and annoy, because she didn't want to be asked out on anymore dates. However, she was going to miss his affections since it did flatter a girl when she knew someone was chasing after her. The thing which ate at her the most was that Naruto hadn't told her anything about chasing after another girl. She figured being his teammate and friend should have been enough reason for him to come to her for advice. She smirked suddenly, dawning on the fact Naruto was over her. He had so easily forgotten his crush on her and moved on to someone more receptive to his actions. Ino broke the silence.

"Hey, forehead girl, what's the matter? Missing said blond already," she asked partly teasing while noting the look of hurt on her friend's face.

"Who is it," she asked, gazing downward to hide any pain she couldn't seal away at that instant.

"That's the big mystery right now, but I know he was hiding something. This morning he stopped by the shop to pick up some flowers," the perceptive blond stated while smirking.

Sakura's downward spiral of despair and pain ended at her friend's words.

"Wait, your basis for him having a girlfriend is because he bought some flowers," she half yelled, wondering if her friend just liked to screw with others.

Ino's nose cringed. She hated when someone insulted her information, she was never wrong when it came to gossip.

"Well, what else do you think he would've gotten them for," she demanded, happy that had momentarily confused Sakura who wasn't quite sure what the other reasons were for Naruto to get flowers so early in the morning.

"He….could've…," she trailed off not sure at all for any reasons her blond teammate, or anyone for that matter, could need flowers early on in the morning.

Ino had a self sure smile. She was more than happy to prove her information gathering skills, even if it was only the latest gossip it was well worth knowing. Sakura felt a growing rage manifesting in her stomach and heart. She didn't have any explanation, but for once both her outer and inner self agreed on a single course of action.

"I don't know Ino, but I'm going to ask Naruto."

*V*

Naruto arrived back at his home with his tiny companion who was wearing a smile that nearly rivaled his own. Naruto was surprised at how big of a change the second day was in comparison to the first one. Yesterday he had been so strung out that Hinata was going to be seen attached to his right hand that he didn't truly have time to enjoy himself. It was quite shocking how much he was enjoying the time he had together with Hinata-chan. In some way he wondered if this was what a relationship did for everyone…taking away the pain that came from being lonely every day. Hinata snapped him out of his thoughts as she tapped him on the cheek while he maneuvered around the pile of all his dirty clothes.

"Um, Naruto-kun,…I don't mean to complain but…," she began and started to tap her index fingers together.

"Hmm," he asked, not noticing the disorderly way he kept his home.

"Um, Naruto-kun, maybe it would be best we clean up your home a…._little bit_**,**" she stressed the last part noticing already it was going to be a hard task to clean the place with the clothing pile, combined with the fact she doubted Naruto ever dusted.

Naruto looked around at the mess he called a home, and ultimately came to a simple conclusion. This place was probably unacceptable to Hinata since she did have a clan compound with a branch family that acted like the hired help.

"Awww, but I'm hungry now," he groaned, feeling hungry. But he also hadn't cleaned his house in sometime since he only cleaned when some friends were going to visit him; which was far and in between considering only Sakura, Kakashi, and Jiraiya came to see him and all had grown accustomed to the mess, so he learned to just skip the formality.

Hinata tapped her fingers together thinking of what they could do. She didn't want to starve Naruto, but she wondered if maybe he would actually like having a clean home to live in. Mostly she wanted to act as the perfect girlfriend for him by doing the things a perfect wife would.

"Naruto-kun, why don't you make a few clones to take care of the house work, and as a reward I'll make you some homemade ramen along with the rest of your meal," she smiled, hoping it would make him happy to get his favorite food along with other nutritious things that would benefit him.

"Hey, why didn't I think of that," he asked with a big grin and instinctively put his hands together, accidentally bumping Hinata into the palm of his other hand.

"AH…Sorry, Hinata-chan," he yelped rubbing her head with his hand.

"It's alright, Naruto-kun, let me henge into a hand first," she laughing off the small shock forming a basic seal, "Henge!"

A small cloud of smoke covered her leaving Naruto's usual right hand.

"Alright. Kage Bunshin no jutsu," he said as five clones appeared in their individual clouds of smoke. "Alright, guys, let's get this place cleaned up," he yelled.

His clones all give him clueless looks, but they decided to go along with it as they split up into groups. Two went to take care of the clothes around the house; two more went to clean the floors, windows, and dusting. The last clone put on a cold mask and a pair of orange tinted goggles as he took a bottle of cleaning chemical and ventured into the bathroom to take care of the porcelain bio-hazard, and shower ring. Hinata henged back into her original form and took Naruto over to the refrigerator as she began to prep the ingredients for the second meal she would prepare for him.

*V*Outside

Sakura had taken it upon herself to head straight to her blond teammates home. If anything she could hopefully catch Naruto red handed with his "girlfriend."

'Why am I so aggravated that Naruto has a girlfriend,' she thought while heading over as her inner self began to argue the point.

'**Naruto should have told us right away…that's why were angry dammit,' yelled inner Sakura.**

'Well, yes, we're his teammate. It just doesn't make sense that he wouldn't even ask me for some sort of advice about even talking to a female,' she grumbled back

'**Naruto should have at least told us, hell yeah! He shouldn't be allowed to be chasing someone else,' inner Sakura said, crawling into a corner in Sakura's head and brooding.**

This caused the pink hair kunochi to stop in her tracks. She hadn't been paying much attention to where she was walking, but now she was standing right in front of the blonde's home. The door stood there, almost mocking her, as she prepared herself to knock; but she found herself in a mental argument with the last comment her inner self had made.

'I don't want Naruto to chase anyone else?...But, I don't feel anything toward Naruto…he can be really annoying, obnoxious, rude, loud…'

'**Caring, determined, loving, passionate, motivated, and has a wonderful goal,' **her inner self cut in causing Sakura to feel her face flush and a small tremor race from her head to toes.

"I don't love Naruto-kun, do I," she asked not getting an answer from her inner voice.

She felt all her emotions mixing around in her heart, making it feel like it was about to burst from her chest. Why did it hurt so much? What could she be feeling toward him? No, Naruto wasn't a love interest he was a friend only….yes that's it…, but he was also her lifeline.

Naruto was a wonderful companion during tough missions. He was always full of confidence in his own abilities and her own. He had also stood by her through the worst times, like when Sasuke had become a missing nin. But she still loved Sasuke didn't she? She hated how he acted and the fact he couldn't share his emotions, he was always so closed off and self centered…she just wished he was more like Naruto.

Her eyes shot wide when she said that…She wanted Sasuke to be more like Naruto? Did she not want Sasuke at all and just want Naruto? She began to nearly hyperventilate. It couldn't be. She wasn't in love with Naruto, nor was she jealous…yes that was it. She wasn't jealous, but then why did Naruto having someone love him take him away from her.

'Take him away from me,' she thought blushing at the thought.

She was thinking as if Naruto was her boyfriend, but that doesn't make sense. Her train of thought came to a crashing halt as the door lock clicked out of place, the door knob turned and revealed one Naruto Uzumaki exiting his home with a trash bag at his side. He looked outside and noticed not a single person. He could've sworn he saw a bit of red cloth and pink but shook his head ignoring it all together. The smell of the food coming from the kitchen was too intoxicating for the real Naruto or his clones to truly focus on things other than their tiny cleaning chores before the coming meal.

"Hey come on this is heavy," said the clone behind him, as he shoved the first one out the door.

"Alright, alright," responded the first clone to the other, carrying the bags out of the house and placing them in the trash cans down the stairs.

Sakura sat in a tree across the street from Naruto's home, she sighed with relief now knowing Naruto hadn't seen her. But now she was more interested in the conversation going on between the shadow clones.

"Hurry up, the sooner we finish, the faster we get to go back inside and eat."

"Yeah, but I can't wait. The last meal was wonderful I wonder what she has planned for today?"

"Doesn't matter. I know I love ramen, but I don't think anyone else can cook this good," the other replied, heading back inside the house and locking the door behind them.

The pinked haired medic ninja couldn't believe her ears. Naruto already had the girl over and she was cooking him lunch? How was it possible he moved things so fast? Wait, what if he wasn't moving fast at all? She took a deep breath focusing on the last few missions she had accomplished with the hyperactive ninja. The last few quick ones she had noticed he didn't stare at her the way he used to. For the last few years she knew all the little things the blond boy had done to show his longing affection. He would stare at her when he figured she wasn't looking during meals, offer her the bed if there wasn't enough room at the inn, and take her watch when she complained about being too tired. But on the last few missions she noticed the little things he had done to make her feel special…he hadn't done any of them.

*V* Two weeks earlier.

Naruto and Sakura had been assigned to complete a C-rank mission just on the border of fire country. They had been sent to do a simple scroll delivery to a small village concerning the negotiation agreement between the two villages to combine their trade and bring greater wealth to their citizens. They had already delivered the documents and were about to return home, but since a rain storm had come in the two were required to take shelter at the local inn. Sakura had approached the counter and asked for a single room, she figured with her sleeping on the bed Naruto would be perfectly fine with resting on the floor.

"Can we get a second room please," Naruto asked.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him…why was he asking for another room? He normally would jump at the chance to spend a night in the same room as her.

"There isn't any need for…," she started only to be cut off.

"No, I want my own room, Sakura-chan," he stated flatly, paying from his own pocket and leaving her company right away.

Sakura shrugged, not thinking much of it, and decided just to enjoy her time to herself in a quiet room and a comfy bed.

*V*

Sakura's mind was doing a million miles a second…which was why she didn't notice the blonde female landing right next to her.

"Hey, forehead girl?" asked Ino as she waved her hands in her friends face, noticing the million mile away look.

The pink haired girl drowned out the annoying sound of her friend with the horrible thoughts clouding her mind and heart at the moment. Sakura didn't want to admit it, but her conscience was starting to eat at her as she recalled the past few weeks with her teammate. She was noticing more and more that she had been totally oblivious to the distance Naruto was putting between them.

'What if Naruto has been with this girl for a few weeks now and I hadn't noticed,' she thought, finally coming out of her daze when she felt Ino pinch her cheeks.

"OW," she yelped, giving Ino a look that could freeze the sun.

"Sakura what's going on? Why are you acting so spaced out," Ino demanded partly due to curiosity, but also because she had never seen her friend and rival act in such a strange way…well except when around that pain in the ass Uchiha.

"It's …nothing….nothing at all," Sakura deflected it.

She didn't want her friend thinking she loved Naruto or something odd like that. She just wasn't prepared for Naruto having a relationship when she didn't, so she wasn't jealous just envious yes that was it.

'**Hell yeah, that's all it is, we just want a relationship like Naruto. We want someone to treat us the way Naruto would treat his girlfriend,' her inner self agreed.**

Ino stared at her confused about why she was blushing, but didn't want to push the issue any further then she needed. Besides Sakura wasn't her gossip issue. Right now she needed to focus on Naruto and why there was such a wonderful smell coming from his home. She was pretty sure he didn't know how to cook. Sakura, on the other hand, seemed to be having a continual mental battle. She was deciding whether to stay outside and wait until the two came out, or just smash the damn door down and catch the two doing whatever couples did in a house away from seeing eyes. She already seemed to be fuming with killing intent since Naruto's two sensei's were both perverted and she didn't want to know all the creepy things Jiraiya had rubbed off on him while he was away training.

*V*

Naruto had a giant smile across his face, along with an enormous sweat drop at seeing that a curry of potato, beef, carrot, and pepper was the meal for lunch. Hinata was shocked to see Naruto so nervous around the curry that she had created, but then again she had heard the stories from Neji about the mission into lightning country and the infamous "curry of life."

"It's alright, Naruto. I promise you this batch of curry won't be terrible," she reassured him, but he wasn't quite convinced.

Once he laid eyes on the special homemade ramen Hinata had made for him, he let it go; especially since this curry had an orange colored sauce instead of that blood red or tar black color. It never ceased to amaze him how much he truly didn't know about the shy Hyuuga.

"Wow, it looks great, Hinata-chan," he praised her as he filled up his own plate and set the table.

"Well, I hope you enjoy the meal. I didn't have all the ingredients to make the broth spicy for you though," she chimed as they went back to get her a little plate as well.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad to have someone cooking for me, it's not every day you get an heir to a clan cooking special meals for you," he smiled when he noticed the blush which refused to fade off Hinata's face.

"I'm really surprised you're able to cook so well, Hinata-chan. Do you cook for your family very often," he wondered while thinking her skills had been sharpened not just due to her upbringing, but possibly since she lost her mother she had to take over as the mother for her family.

"Um…actually…I," she started to trail off, flicking her fingers together and turning her reddened face down to save her from some of the embarrassment.

Naruto couldn't help but smile at the way Hinata reacted to him asking her personal questions. Before, he would've figured she was just being weird and quiet, but now he had to admit it was cute the way she got flustered just from talking to him; that and red really did look good on her due to her pale skin.

'Where did that thought come from,' he wondered, realizing he had just thought of Hinata as attractive.

No he shouldn't think that. She would go back to her original self someday. If he felt this way about her when she didn't faint, would he feel the same for her when she went right back to her old body and fainting self? Naruto stopped his thinking and lightly raised her chin up with one of his fingers to get her answer, praying to kami her answer to his question would get his mind off sweet female attached to him.

"Well…," he asked, not knowing the full effect he was having on her.

Hinata felt her very soul being swallowed up by the two limitless oceans which were her loves eyes. When she looked into those eyes of his, it made her feel like she was the most important person in the entire world. She felt courage and confidence engulfing her, which she should have expected since her naturally beamed confidence.

"I don't cook for my family often, Naruto-kun,…I…I," she swallowed hard and tried her best to keep her eye contact with him, even with the butterflies in her stomach multiplying with each second under his gaze.

"I learned to cook so I could take care of you," she spat out in a single breath and felt her eyes widen with having admitted more of her secrets to her precious Naruto-kun without fainting.

She was getting happier with each day. She would never regret this curse, even if she never returned back to her body or got to share other intimate things with her one and only. She was happy getting to just talk to him without fainting.

Naruto was at a loss of words. He hadn't looked in the shy girl's way because he only now noticed he had tunnel vision when it came to love interests, seeing as he did chase after Sakura for so many years with only bruises to show for it. But that wasn't the only thing weighing on his mind. Hinata had been shy, yes, but from what he could tell she was had been doing her best to become someone he could come to love and respect; and also a women who could one day take care of him since she seemed to feel guilty about not being at his side when he was lonely, especially if she has loved him since their academy days.

"Um…Hinata-chan," he asked, getting her attention and giving her a look she herself wasn't exactly sure meant. "Well…I….well…I….You…I"

*Knock* *knock* *Knock*

Naruto closed his mouth turning to the door and feeling the worry and fear come back full force and make his stomach swell up like a balloon.

'Who is it at this time,' he wondered slowly

"What should we do," Hinata asked freaking out because she didn't know someone would come visit them.

Whoever it was didn't matter at all, all that truly mattered at the moment was keeping their secret safe.

"Hurry up and henge I'll send a clone to the door."

Hinata changed back into a normal looking hand, she could still see but in this shape she wouldn't be able to talk. All she could do now was sit back and hope Naruto was able to get rid of whoever was trying to visit. The clone from the bathroom exited the bathroom with a look of disgust and shock plastered on his face. He took off the mask and goggles and gave his master a stare and got the "GET THE DOOR" look when he heard another barrage of controlled punches into his now cracking door which squeaked/pleaded for help.

The clone walked forward and answered the door, keeping the chain still attached, just in case he needed to immediately slam the door allowing his control the chance to escape.

"Hello," sang Sakura, hiding her inner rage and curiosity well and trying to get into Naruto's house after her earlier conversation with a different loud, annoying blond.

*V*

"Wait, so Naruto has his girlfriend inside his home, alone with him," Ino asked her pink haired friend who looked nervous as she started to slowly chew on her lips and fingernails.

"Yeah, I heard his clone say that no one cooked as good as her," Sakura mumbled, though her mind was already contemplating thousands of ways to get herself in her teammates home.

"If she's already cooking for him…imagine all the other wonderful things they do for each other," Ino started, feeling she was getting little blushes from thinking of all the romantic and intimate things they did for together; she had wanted someone to give her flowers for so long.

Sakura couldn't take it anymore. She gulped down her taunting thoughts and decided to take matters into her own hands. It was one thing to imagine what could be going on inside her friend's home, but she would feel better if she just walked in and saw what was truly happening.

"Ino, go to the back window in case she tries to leave," she demanded, leaving her friend to watch her with wide eyes as she stomped up to the apartment door and began to pound it with her fist.

*V*

"Oh, Hi Sakura-chan…what are you doing here? You need something," the clone asked, acting like the real Naruto would.

Thankfully, he was feeling a bit more secure since it was Sakura and she never dropped by for anything besides check-ups and relaying mission orders for their squad.

"I just wanted to say hello. I was walking home and thought I would drop by since you didn't look too good yesterday."

"Um, yeah. Well, I'm fine now so you don't need to worry about me," he smiled and hoped she would leave at that, but soon noticed she was keeping the door opened with her own hand.

"Um, what's that smell are you cooking something," she asked, trying to put on her best face to appear sweet and innocent.

"It's just some homemade ramen and curry," he said bluntly.

He soon heard the sound of what he thought was his own stomach grumbling, but soon noted it was the pink haired kunoichi's and not his own.

"I'm sorry," she said blushing since she didn't want to admit it, but the food smelled good and she had skipped lunch to finish all her orders for Tsunade-sama.

"Can I please have a little bit of your food," she pleaded, noticing the saddened look of her teammate's face.

She wanted to smirk since she knew this would get her inside his home and let her see what was going on. The clone knew better than to just invite Sakura-chan in, but it also understood that the real Naruto wouldn't turn his friend away even given the situation and it also provided him a chance to make things appear normal and keep up appearances to avoid suspicion.

"Alright, I'm sure there is enough for the two of us, come on in I'm at the table," the clone said vanishing in a puff of smoke and transferring his memories to his master.

Sakura blinked a few times, happy her friend was smart enough to unlock the door before dispelling his clone. But why in the first place was Naruto using clones in his home?

She took a step in and immediately noticed something was definitely off. Naruto's home was entirely spotless. There wasn't a single piece of clothing laying on the floor, which looked like it was just freshly scrubbed. The aroma of the apartment was different too. The entire residence seemed filled with a delicious cascade of smells and only further added anticipation to the taste of the dish which was made from scratch, or at least she guessed it was.

She snapped out of her moment of hunger stupidity and focused on the main reason she was there. If the girl her friend was dating was here chances were she either was still inside or made an escape out the window, and if she did Ino would be there to identify her. She passed through the small living room which, surprisingly to her, actually had a couch underneath all the garbage Naruto called clothing. When she came into the living room, she was shocked to see Naruto on his knees with a small table in front of him with a table cloth over it and his right hand underneath the cloth to keep Hinata hidden. Even if she was a hand he needed to take the extra precautions.

"Hiya, Sakura-chan. The food is in the kitchen, feel free to take some," he said, hoping it would be a simple snatch and snack for his friend so he and Hinata-chan could have a peaceful lunch together.

It was odd to him the way Sakura seemed to be almost searching for something in the way she was staring around his entire home, but he figured it had something to do with the house being cleaned up. She gave her brightest smile and noticed the living, dining area, and the kitchen were clear. There wasn't anyone else inside. It was strange. She openly figured to catch Naruto at home with a special someone. There was something happening and she had to try and make sure her blond, aggravating friend was seeing someone.

'Hmm Naruto is loyal to a fault…maybe I can see if he'll accept a little date from me,' she thought with an unexpected smile of joy.

"Um Naruto…you wouldn't mind if we had lunch together," she half asked, half stated while giving him a small smile showing a tiny bit of her teeth.

Naruto's eyes widened, but didn't know exactly how to answer. He had to admit he didn't feel really anything besides friendship towards Sakura, or at least he believed his didn't. It wouldn't be right to just force her out when she was hungry…the least he could do was let her eat something then get her to leave. He just hoped Hinata would forgive him, since it was a special meal she made specifically for the two of them.

Hinata, on the other hand, felt her heart crack. She didn't want to get caught. She felt adamant about that since it would only make things worse for her Naruto-kun. However, him sharing a meal she poured both her heart and whole being into with the one person she saw as her rival in having Naruto's heart to herself hurt beyond words. She felt like crying…she couldn't take it and changed back into her normal form, still out of sight, so she could openly sob.

Naruto gritted his teeth, trying to come to a simple answer. His arm felt like a small tremor rush through it for reasons unknown to him. Sakura took a deep breath, still not getting an answer from her teammate, but suddenly came to a realization that she hadn't before. There was a single place she hadn't checked. She stared at the bathroom door with the familiar sensation of fear gripping her heart and causing her to get slightly dizzy and breathe a bit harder. She hadn't used Naruto's bathroom in that past, but from what Kakashi-sensei had warned her…she was willing to chance another encounter with Orochimaru then explore further. Now it would only eat at her until she doubled checked the place.

"Um, excuse me for a moment please, Naruto," she said not wanting to ask to use the bathroom since it would seem a bit too embarrassing; that and she still had a large amount of modesty.

She rose up and walked off toward the bathroom. Closing her eyes tightly, she pulled the door open only to be met with the refreshing smell of oranges? She blinked a few times and entered slowly just in case her nose wasn't working, but to her amazement it was no mistake or genjutsu. The entire house was spotless clean, and somehow there was still not a single person home besides Naruto. She closed the door behind her and decided to wait for a little while. She couldn't just go in and come out, but now her thoughts were starting to eat away at her.

'Where the hell was that girl Naruto was talking about,' her mind thundered as she thumped her head up against the tile wall feeling like she was losing some form of her sanity.

"**Naruto is trying to make us jealous, and also drive us crazy let's just beat the information out of him Dammit," **her other personality yelled, only trying to help her cope with the problem she was in.

She took a few deep breaths and gathered up what self control and courage she had left in her body. She needed to get this problem solved and soon.

Outside the bathroom there was an even more tense conversation taking place between Naruto and the Hyuuga attached to his right hand. Naruto was a little dumbfounded when Sakura suddenly asked to use his bathroom, but he took it as a mixed blessing since he could check on Hinata-chan. He was greeted with the soft sniffles and gasps of someone crying. He stared at the girl on his hand and noticed that, even with her pale colored eyes, she still was able to get blood shot in her eyes for excessive crying.

"Hinata-chan….what's wrong," he whispered, trying his best to keep from alerting the pink haired ninja in the bathroom.

"Wh….why….why are…you…eating with her?"

She sobbed trying her best to stop her blubbering but failing miserably.

"I'm not, I wanted a nice meal for us both we-"

"Do you like her," she demanded tears still filling her eyes and threatening to overflow.

"Wait…what?!

"Do you like her, Naruto-kun?"

"I, well….there is….well, I'm not sure…I don't know," he stuttered on feeling his tongue tying itself in knots preventing him from speaking.

That and for some reason, when Hinata-chan talked with tears in her eyes it somehow frightened him just a bit.

"I think-"

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Sakura chimed, coming out and suddenly seeing the jolt the blond did when she came back out almost like he was startled by her.

"Oh, it's nothing at all..absolutely okay, nothing wrong," he said far too fast, slowly letting a goofy smile go on to cover up the nervous stare he was doing toward a wooden table that was growing more and more interesting.

Sakura had a giant smile on, she knew now the best way to get Naruto to show if he was with someone or not.

"Um, Naruto-kun, can I ask you something," she knelt down next to him at the table and eased her hands over to take a hold of his left hand…which was covered in more sweat than usual.

"Y…yes," he stuttered out, feeling himself becoming like his Hyuuga friend being as they were technically one person at the time.

"You see, I was planning to go and see that new film '_Tranquil Sonata_' with Shizune-senpai, but since we are still behind in missions due to our lacking of high ranking healers Shizune has been pulled away onto a new mission. I was just wondering if you would like to come along since no one else can. I mean, it's your favorite actress, Princess Koyuki Kazahana. I figured you wouldn't mind coming along."

She held back a smirk, knowing that Naruto wouldn't turn it down for two reasons: she was offering Naruto an actual date for once, and it was his favorite actress. It was a guaranteed way to see if he was seeing someone else.

Hinata closed her eyes tight after hearing the offer Sakura had just made. She wanted to scream a deafening "NO" so she could manage to get her rival out their home! She placed her hands over her mouth doing her best to keep herself from bursting.

'Why does she need to go asking Naruto-kun out now? Does she know what's going on,' her mind didn't stop throwing outrageous possibilities out until she held her breath not knowing what Naruto's answer was going to be.

"Um…well…now isn't a good time, Sakura-chan," he said slowly, doing his best to tell her without freaking out.

Naruto partly wanted to go because it was a free movie. To make it more appealing his favorite actress was staring in it (that and he never admitted it to anyone, but his picture with her autograph he kept hidden in a frame underneath his bed in a case needing his chakra to open). However, he couldn't go. There was no way he could, Hinata-chan was attached to his hand for Kami's sake, he wouldn't put her in danger she was one of his precious people.

"Really? Why can't you go with me," she asked, almost seeming like she was pleading for him to reconsider and come along with her.

"I just have other plans that's all. Besides, I'm sure you can get someone else to go with you…Sai might be free," he smiled happy to push the subject away from himself

However, he felt his heart go down his throat and start to boil away in his stomach from the killer intent radiating out from his friend was stifling.

Hinata smile widely, feeling her tears instantly dry from what his answer meant.

'Naruto-kun cares enough about me to turn down Sakura-chan.'

The small Hyuuga knew deep down it wasn't right to take pleasure in another's misfortune, but it felt good knowing Naruto-kun was putting her first before his own wants. It almost felt like they were a couple already. She was brought out of her time of bliss by the demon like killing presence radiating from the seemingly harmless appearing girl.

Sakura couldn't take it; he was doing everything in his power to avoid a direct answer.

"Who is it Naruto-kun…who are you dating," she demanded pointing a finger and him and having the vein in her forehead pulsating more than usual with her anger flare.

'What,' thought the conjoined pair wondering where that question had come from…and why was Sakura asking that anyways?

"Wait…what? I'm not-"

"Ino told me already that you got flowers this morning. I know you can't cook, and your home is clean for once. Who is it that your trying to impress? And why are you not telling me," she cut him off and asked more questions than was possible in a single breath.

"Wait, you're spying on me," he asked, feeling violated and continued on feeling he needed to ask more questions. "Why do you think I can't cook? And why can't I just clean my house once in a while?"

He felt his own anger rising a bit but knew it be best he try and remain calm. Sakura stopped for a second to take what he said to heart. She was spying on her friend, and automatically assuming he was doing something like dating someone just because he did something out of the ordinary. Nevertheless, the rage she had already built snapped the twig that was her common sense and sent her doing something she would regret.

"Why won't you tell me what's going on," she asked, getting emotional as the stinging sensation came to her eyes getting her tear ducts ready for a fresh wash.

"It's just complicated. You couldn't understand," he said and soon realized that wasn't the best choice of words.

"Why," she said gritting her teeth hard enough to cause a scratching sounds loud enough for Naruto to hear.

Sakura let go allowing her inner self to fully take over her actions.

"**Don't keep secrets from me," **she yelled, punching Naruto in the chest sending him flying off his knees and smashing into the wall behind him making a crater in the shape of his back in the wall.

Sakura abruptly turned not caring to even look at the blond any longer. She felt disgusted and mistreated it was just so agitating she couldn't bear to handle it any longer.

"Fine, Naruto. Keep your damn secret," she stomped off, slamming the door making the entire apartment complex shake with the devastating amount of power she had hidden away when she wasn't using it.

Naruto felt like his brain had just been rearranged in his skull. There was also a good chance he wouldn't be able to breathe properly until his fox tenant fixed the injured muscles and bone. He felt his vision blur and start to refocus once the initial shock had relieved itself. But it was the soft feel of caring mini hands along his cheeks that brought the reality and pain back that much sooner.

"Naruto-kun are you okay? Please be okay? Answer me," Hinata begged while rubbing his face with worried hands, attempting to bring her injured love back to the realm of the living.

"I'm…fine I th-h-h-think," he grumbled as his ribs popped back into place.

"Do you think everything is going to be alright," she asked, seeing the dent he had left in the wall.

"We'll be fine, Hinata-chan," he stated.

Abruptly, as a loud hissing sound soon turned into a loud boom when the water pipe Sakura had punched him into broke and sprayed over them both soaking them from head to toe.

"And we'll need to bathe at the hot spring from now on," he said now frustrated that the perfect day, though not fully over, was just ruined.

Hinata gave a small pout and wiped the moist hair out of her face so she could look at her love.

"How can things get worse," she asked happy that it was the water pipe and not the septic one.

*V*

The two stood at the front gates of the Hyuuga compound. They were feeling awkward that they had been invited over to the clan compound by the head, Hiashi, and not their teammate who they had yet to see over the past two days. Kiba and Shino didn't think it was too much out of the ordinary for their teammate to disappear for a few days, since the clan did require her to stay home and meet with members of the council. However, Hinata never once had just fallen off the map and not even sent them a single sign she was alright. Even though it was subtle like a simple message sent via a clan messenger or a simple hello passed from a friend it was always something.

Kiba yawned. He was feeling tired and wanted a nap since they had just finished eating at one of the local barbecue restaurants.

"I wonder what Lord Hiashi wants us for," he groaned out, noting the stoic stare of the bug user.

Shino only nodded his head, showing he agreed with his friend. There seemed to be no logical reason for a clan head to invite both of them over. Neither of them was a clan head, nor did they ever even see Hiashi anytime they had visited in the past. The silence shared between them only continued to rise in tension since they had been told to meet at the front entrance at two o'clock in the afternoon and it was currently five minutes past that time.

Kiba lightly tapped his foot which he brought to an abrupt halt when Shino slowly turned his head to the side showing the sound was becoming a nuisance.

"Please come in," said the voice of someone they recognized

The large wooden clan doors slowly parted showing a long haired, male Hyuuga in his traditional white gi. He was looking at the two, knowing exactly why they were there.

"Please come in and follow me."

He lead the two through the numerous turns and twists of the clan house, which to an outsider was nearly a maze unto itself. There was no conversation passed between the group. Despite them all being friends and squad mates, this wasn't a social gathering, and given what Neji had been instructed by Hiashi and the status of the situation he needed to keep everything he could to himself.

When they did finally arrive to the meeting room that belonged to Hiashi Hyuuga, Neji knocked three times and waited for the now seemingly tired voice of the clan head bid him to enter.

"Enter," he said, trying his hardest to seem well rested and powerful.

The door slowly opened and Neji allowed the two to enter as he excused himself from the meeting, already now knowing what the situation was - that and Hiashi had specifically requested he not stay and hear of the proposition he was handing to Hinata's team.

Hiashi had done his best to keep himself looking proper and well kept, despite the fact he had only managed to sleep a total of six hours for the past two days.

"I am pleased you two were both able to make this meeting. To be blunt with you, the clan elders have not been informed of this meeting. Also, whatever I am about to tell you never leaves this study. I don't need to tell you what will happen if this information becomes public knowledge."

Kiba nodded feeling slightly threatened by the older man. but did his best to hide it away. Shino, on the other hand, seemed somehow to remain indifferent to the tension in the room. That or he was merely able to hide his emotions better than anyone gave him credit.

"This is a clan secret and I will expect two of my daughter's teammates to not betray her by trust."

The two nodded their heads waiting for Hiashi to continue on.

"Two days ago Hinata was found inside her room unconscious and she has yet to wake up or show any signs of life. Her condition has been diagnosed by the Hokage who can see no way to wake her from this sleep."

Kiba's mouth dropped and he felt his heart being ripped from the security of his ribcage, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. It made absolutely no sense that this could happen. He never wanted to admit it, especially not to Hiashi Hyuuga, but Kiba saw Hinata as more than just a friend. He deeply wanted to take things further than that of friendship, but he always saw the way she would act around Naruto and he figured it be best to hold back until she at least told the idiot how she felt. However, the fact she was in a permanent sleep didn't just force him to be sick to his stomach, he felt angered that there wasn't anything he could do.

Shino, for his collected attitude, actually raised an eye brow in surprise at the current situation. He was trying to see the situation from a logical stand point. If this had been poisoning or another attempt by a foreign country to capture a Hyuuga, such an attempt would've been identified by Tsunade-sama and the person caught. There had been no trade or foreign relations between any of the villages occurring, so it left him confused as to why Hinata would be in the state she was in. He thought for a moment on the issue. Hinata had been in perfect health at their last team medical check-up. Even if they didn't work as a team all the time after their advancements they had been forcibly encouraged by Kurenai to, as friends, at least make their health known to each other in case of accidents during missions and in the village.

"I am confused to one thing, Hiashi-sama. Given Hinata's situation there wasn't any reason for you to inform her teammates of it, even would place her in inactive duty. I am curious as to why you would offer such sensitive information to us unless you were planning to ask us for assistance in the matter," Shino concluded, approaching closer to the desk and took his place at a corner seeming to try his best to imitate a statue.

"I expected nothing less from an Aburame clan member to see through to the issue at hand; the purpose of you two knowing this is that I am offering you both a mission concerning the unwise obsession of my daughter's."

Kiba gave Hiashi a confused look, but it soon came to understanding once Shino said the name of said person.

"Naruto," he said with just as much indifference as the Hyuuga clan head.

"Yes, I am giving you both a mission concerning Uzumaki. I need you both to watch him and report of anything peculiar in his daily life."

Kiba had met with plenty of important individuals throughout his ninja carrier, but now he couldn't contain himself given what they were being asked to do.

"Why would we want to follow that idiot around?! How the hell does that help out Hinata," he near demanded, but felt himself shut up when met with the icy glare of a angered, insulted, and maybe even slightly protective father.

"Inuzuka, I am a man of patience, but I will not tolerate you raising your voice to me. You would do well to remember your place," he said with a voice that threatened death and torture if Kiba didn't take his words back.

Shino took the chance to cover for his friend, even though he secretly hated how so many of his fellow leaf shinobi allowed their emotions to rule them. His family truly needed to ask the Hokage to have classes to teach them to control their emotions.

"I believe what Kiba meant is we are having trouble understanding the reason spying on a fellow leaf shinobi, who has had little to no contact with Hinata, over the past two days could help prove anything fruitful in improving her condition, Hiashi-sama."

"I didn't plan on needing to explain the situation to either of you, given your both tracking ninja. However, my faith in your abilities of perception were overestimated. Very well, over the past few years Hinata has been showing physical side effects of watching the Uzumaki chase after other females. I have information proving that Naruto Uzumaki has possibly found a companion willing to have a relationship with him. I believe this was also known by my daughter, which is what must have put her into such a state. Therefore, I am requesting you both follow him until we can find out if this is the cause," Hiashi finished and waited for either of the boys to depict any type of emotion, but he wasn't holding his breath for the Aburame member.

Both boys were thinking the same thing. If this was some way to help Hinata, then it was worth them trying. They turned as one nodding their agreement.

"We'll do it," Kiba voiced for both of them.

*V*

He hadn't planned in any way to leave Hiashi alone with both Hinata's teammates and not spy on their conversation. Neji took his ear off a wall from the library located adjacent to the study. He didn't like to resort to such an amateur way of gathering information, but it had its uses. He wasn't sure how to react to the situation. He knew also that Naruto Uzumaki was acting strange, even for being himself, and to have both males trying to spy on him wasn't the right way to go about this. He sighed leaving for his room. If Hiashi was going to have eyes on Naruto…then maybe he could keep his eyes on them and Naruto.


	7. Bath houses, women & perverts, oh my!

**Author's note:** To my fans, I apologize for the inadequate updates. Many things have occurred this summer. To name a few, I got married to my editor, ElysianKiss; had to move and also remodel a room for us to live in; and other family affairs have prevented me from writing. In good news, I am currently writing two other stories and taking over one of ElysianKiss' stories. Updates should be more frequent. Thank you for your patience and I pray you enjoy the coming chapters.

**Chapter 7 - Bath houses, women & perverts, oh my!**

It was considered a normal day's occurrence. Yes, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. If you weren't one of the few lucky villagers who had a bath in their home, you went to the hot spring to bathe. Konoha was actually one of the few ninja villages which offered this service to its ninja for free to help promote comfort, that and in case mission requests ever slowed no one had to worry about being clean.

A certain blonde couldn't shake himself free of the feeling of impending dread at the problem. However, given the condition of his home now thanks to his powerful teammate, he would likely need to wait for a few days before his landlord repaired the piping. The acid in his stomach continued to feel like it was eating his insides as more stressful thoughts began to lurk into his conscious from the darker corners of his mind.  
'What if someone sees me? What if people notice Hinata and get the wrong idea,' he gulped, thinking of every scary woman he ever met preparing to tear him apart for being some type of creepy pervert when they found out it was a real female where his right hand should've been.

He decided it best to simply ignore the worry about being torn apart until someone spotted him, but there was now another problem. He and Hinata had effectively taken two showers together, so it wasn't really odd for them to see each other…but he doubted she would feel the same about other men seeing her or vice versa. He continued down the dirt road to arrive at the destination he was hoping would be a hundred more miles away to give him an adequate amount of time to figure out a way around the problems, but now he had to live with it.

Hinata was taking things better then Naruto; while she was worried she would be revealed nude to someone, it made her feel special that she and Naruto had done so many things together. It felt like they were dating every day, that and she had spent more time alone with Naruto over the past day than in her entire life thus far. She did her best to hide the blush spreading like a fire across her cheeks, though failing miserably.

*V*

It was a normal day occurrence for him. Well, at least he believed it to be given the current state of his mind. The truth of the matter was it had become more of a routine for him, regardless of where he traveled during missions or not, he made it a priority to stop at the local bath house. That and he believed that a great writer could only write a great book if given the greatest inspiration in the world.

"Beautiful women bathing," he said with a small flare of his nostrils and a light pink blush traveling across his cheeks.

Jiraiya smirked largely, happy to be back in Konoha after making sure to gather the information on Akatsuki and other possible threats to the village. Though he was better known by the female population in numerous villages for his wealth and "charm," he did enjoy Konoha's females over the other villages. This was mainly because Konoha had a higher female to male ninja ratio meaning one simple thing, more females with well toned bodies. Jiraiya sighed happily, coming to his favorite spot in the wooden fence that tried to protect the modesty of the ladies inside from the peering eyes of perverts.

"Wood warping jutsu," he whispered making a set of two mini eye holes to appear in the wall and letting him get to work in his notebook he held onto for "research" trips.

*V* Outside of the Hyuuga Compound.

Kiba and Shino had exited the compound wall, both seeming well prepared to track down their "friend" though "target" would've been the better word of choice. Neither seemed to have a single problem about violating Naruto's privacy, given the fact it was for their teammate and Naruto wasn't likely to be hurt.

Kiba focused his chakra into his nose, getting a general idea of where Naruto was at the moment. Normally he wouldn't have to do the tracking himself, but Akamaru had been sick ever since he had gotten into the garbage and eaten some chocolate his sister had thrown away. He grumbled having to sift through the numerous scents, trying to find the odor of both fox and ramen that only Naruto seemed to have. Shino had already sent out his bugs to look from the sky for their target and with orders to mark him with the female pheromone to track him once he'd been found.

A few moments passed before Kiba got the scent and signaled for Shino to follow him. The two didn't bother hiding themselves. If anyone asked what they were doing they could always say they were training their tracking abilities. Second, thanks to Shino's bugs it would be nearly impossible for Naruto to notice either of them before they could sneak around to get a view of him. What neither of them knew was that Hyuuga Neji was keeping well out of sight and smell thanks to his byakugan. He smirked at how easy it would be to follow the pair to Naruto and then find out the truth, and possibly keep Shino and Kiba in the dark.

Naruto felt his mouth go dry when he realized what day it was again. It was Sunday, and that only meant one thing in the village of Konoha…Mixed Bathing. He knew all too well, from trying to sneak into the bathhouse, which sides were for the males and females. However, every week the hostess would shut down one of the bathing sides to permit them to clean the other without restricting either sex from entering. Not to mention it did help to give the ladies a fair warning. Since they knew men were within view they could keep their unmentionables covered. Naruto felt trapped in the current situation. Going into the hot spring now would almost be suicide; not only because someone would notice him, but a lot of the girls inside probably still held some type of grudge against him for sending his counterpart Naruko into the female baths.

'Just great how am I supposed to take a bath now,' he wondered, noting the stale smell that clung to him from the earlier soaking.

He sighed loudly, just deciding to go in and face his punishment. It was bad enough he was waiting and letting his fear mount against his better reasoning. After all, he had made it a whole day without someone finding out his secret, another few hours shouldn't be that complicated. As he walked in, Naruto turned his head after feeling a tiny bug land on his ear.

"Hey beat it," he partly yelled.

He took a swing at the insect with his right hand, forgetting all together Hinata since she was henged into a regular looking hand at the time.

The insect quickly dodged the poor strike, taking off after successfully leaving its scent on its intended victim.

Naruto darted into the changing area, thanking his luck that no one was currently using the place. He looked at his right hand and nodded his head giving Hinata the signal that it was safe for her to drop the illusion.

"How are we going to manage this Hinata-chan," he whispered while crouching into the corner shielding Hinata from the random view of others.

A small puff of smoke revealed her still in her little orange shirt.

"Huh? Why can't be just go into the bath," she asked not knowing about the rules of the local springs since the clan did have private baths and hot spring.

"It's mixed bathing today, Hinata-chan. There would be no way we could wash ourselves without someone spotting us," he said, the grief dripping abundantly with each word.

"Can't we just skip the bath for one day," she asked, more than willing to deal with the smell, but knew Naruto probably wouldn't allow that. She did know him well and he was predictable in his stubbornness.

"I'd rather not. If we don't get this smell off us we'll probably start attracting attention in the wrong way. I mean, even bugs are getting interested in me," he said with a small laugh.

Hinata giggled a tiny bit. It was true, but it was funny none the less. Plus she really didn't get to laugh much, at least when her family was around.

'Wait bugs,' she thought, looking at Naruto's ear, where that tiny bug had landed before, and noticed a bit of an orange stain on his ear.

"Naruto-kun, I think that was one of Shino's bugs," she said raising her body up and inspecting the spot of contact.

"Huh? How can you tell," he asked, trying his best to look at his own ear.

"Shino-kun normally marks his targets by using the scent of the species' females. It makes it easy for the males to track them," she said, after confirming on closer inspection since on a few occasions she was willing marked by the same bugs to help Shino in his training.

"Why would Shino have a need to mark me," he asked, entirely confused at the situation.

Hinata didn't answer. She knew already it would be impossible for her to remove the liquid without soap and warm water so they were stuck.

Naruto didn't seem one bit phased by the fact he was marked, if Shino was using him for training he would just need to make it harder on him. He felt an evil grin spread across his features as he came up with the perfect plan on making this harder for the bug user.

"Hinata-chan, turn back into a hand," he whispered.

"Hai," she responded, suddenly vanishing into a cloud of smoke.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu," he said making a second Naruto puff into existence.

"Alright you know what to do," he said, the clone giving him a thumbs up before forming a simple hand seal.

"Henge," he vanished to leave a well curved and shapely girl with a bob shaped black haircut.

Naruto quickly realized the clone had forgotten to place on some form of clothing, which he remedied by wrapping a towel around it to make it seem like it had some form of modesty.

The clone leaned in close making sure to rub her ear against Naruto's, it needed to make sure to try and match the same place getting a fair quantity of pheromone on itself too.

"Okay best of luck," he said, earning himself a small blown kiss from his clone that slowly made its way into the open side of the spring giggling.

Hinata reappeared and quickly was poking Naruto in the cheek to get his attention.

"Naruto-kun, what are you doing," she asked him, perplexed to why a clone would be necessary for them to get into the spring…she honestly couldn't imagine how it was meant to help them.

Naruto laughed, heading to the closed side of the spring darting his head inside to confirm it was vacant of activity. He put on a huge goofy grin when he noticed the area was already refilled so it meant they had already completed the process of cleaning thankfully.

"Alright," he yelled flinging his clothes off in every direction finding his body fully bare as he jumped into the water with a massive splash.

"Ah….," he sighed with contentment, only to turn his head and notice a ruby faced Hinata who was embarrassed about the fact she had gotten another full view of her love. He also had managed to make her assets more appealing given the way her orange shirt now clung to her strikingly abundant bust.

Naruto turned his face away at hearing the miniature Hyuuga give a high pitch "eep" when she realized her state of dress.

"Sorry, Hinata-chan," he said, head down and reaching for some nearby towels to make the moment less awkward.

He slowly clothed himself by placing the towel in the water and securely tying it around his waist to hide his excruciatingly hard member with only a single hand, but he managed if only to make Hinata more comfortable. The Hyuuga girl felt the mixture of the blood rushing to her face combined with the heat caused by the hot spring causing light headedness, but thankfully she didn't faint. She slowly took off her precious shirt, folding it up and putting it in one hand as she took the wash cloth and placed it about herself.

"Ah," she exclaimed slowly lowering herself down to the relaxing water

Neither spoke for some time and just relished in the comfort that came from the hot water. Combined with the solitude of being alone with each other for another bath, it was starting to be pleasurable. Time passed far too quickly for the pair as Naruto climbed out of the water to actually get washed up. He felt a bit stupid for not bringing his own soaps, but thankfully there were plenty of the customary soaps lying around the edges of the spring. He had already gotten plenty of suds in his little cleaning towel and gone to work on his head and chest.

"Hey, Hinata-chan, could you get my back," he asked handing the cloth off to her.

"Um, sure," she gulped audibly; since she had only in her most secret fantasies thought she would be rubbing her love's back.

She shook her head from side to side, doing her best to get the redness from her cheeks to subside enough for her to actually do the task. She scrubbed him down trying to get every single inch of his back.

"AH," yelled the blonde as he felt Hinata go too far back and his shoulder pop out of place.

"Sorry," she yelped, pulling back but dropping the cloth too.

'Oops,' she thought, noticing she couldn't get to the cloth, not that she would want to wash her Naruto-kun with it after.

'What should I do,' she wondered looking down at her hand towel around herself.

Naruto blinked a few times suddenly realizing the cloth now washing him was a lot softer, and seemed to put more pressure on two certain places.

"Thanks, Hinata-chan," he smiled, turning his head around and became instantly surprised by the tomato colored face of Hinata using herself as a cleaning cloth.

"Don't look," Hinata exclaimed, putting her forehead against her love's back.

Her blonde crush felt his spine go rigid and his face snap forward.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun,…it's…it's...I can't do this if you're watching," she barely whispered and tried to keep from beating herself up on doing such a embarrassing act; worrying mostly that her one and only thought she was perverted.

Naruto, on the other hand, didn't exactly know how to take the situation. Sure he had to admit it felt wonderful having Hinata scrubbing him with her breasts, but that being the main positive was also the primary negative. The non perverted part of him didn't think it was appropriate, but the evil instinctual Naruto inside was giving the proper one a run for his money. Why in the world was she cleaning him like that? Sure, it was the only thing she could possibly do at the time, but he never would've thought shy innocent Hinata Hyuuga would be one to come onto him so strongly.

'Maybe this is how Hinata really is,' he wondered for a moment, before dismissing such a thought since her face was so red he doubted she got a thrill from it.

He didn't want to say anything, only because the bulge in his throat seemed on the verge of squeezing his air pipe shut.

"Thanks."

"Huh?"

Hinata didn't know what to say, why was Naruto thanking her? Was he getting turned on by this? Maybe he didn't mind at all? Maybe he thought it was okay since she was acting perverted?

"I…"

"Thanks for washing my back. I know it must be embarrassing for you. Do you want me to get your's after," he said trying his hardest to not swallow his own tongue.

Hinata felt her face possibly fill with every ounce of blood in her body. How could he be so understanding? Naruto really was special as she always thought, even in this awkward situation he found a way to make her feel both safe and cared for.

"Th…thank you, Naruto-kun," she whispered, finding enough strength to continue on. It truly was the perfect day, despite all its faults she was more than content finishing her little act of love.

*V*

Kiba and Shino halted at the entrance. Why in the world would Naruto come to the hot springs when he had his own shower? Lately things truly weren't making any sense, but given the orders they needed to fulfill it would be useless if they stopped now. However, Shino noticed a few other flaws with the current situation.

"From what my bugs can gather, Naruto should be inside the spring on the female side."

"Well, I guess the best option will be to just henge and walk right inside. It shouldn't be hard to find him since he always keeps those damn facial scars regardless of who he changes into," Kiba said already starting in, but jerked back when Shino pulled his collar with a death grip.

"Such actions would not be advisable."

"What? Why not?"

"Getting my body wet could kill my insects. And entering into the female side wouldn't be harmful in our current state, however, chancing Naruto noticing our presence would compromise our entire purpose."

Shino didn't like saying it, but he secretly didn't like water due to the fear of losing his bugs. The Aburame clan were known as bug users, but few knew exactly how they managed that. The clan members had a series of flaps in their skin that when exposed to chakra could be sealed or opened depending on what the situation called for. However, the flaps were only meant to keep out air, not water, given how thin the skin was on the openings. It was primarily the reason Shino wore his jacket. The Aburame clan specifically made those clothes for their members, to protect them from water exposure since the clothes were entirely waterproof.

"Damn, and I can't tell exactly where he is with all the moisture in the air."

"I believe an indirect form of observation would be best," Shino said, earning a confused look from Kiba whom he just signaled to follow him as they made their way around the spring to the farthest wall of the female bath side.

"I can't believe we're…"

Shino slapped his hand over Kiba's mouth; he truly wished that his teammate had a better affinity in subtlety.

*V*

Sakura wasn't feeling at her best. She hated the fact Naruto was now hiding his "relationship" from her. Why didn't he trust her enough to tell her who his mystery woman was? They had been teammates since the academy didn't they make them close enough to share with each other?

"Well, Pinky, who is the girl Naruto is smooching," Ino's annoying voice seemed to have a special affinity to pierce her mental thought barrier.

"I don't know. There wasn't anyone there," she grumbled looking down as she and friend made their way across the village.

"Hmm, well maybe she got by us somehow? It's possible she is a shinobi too," Ino stated, noticing Sakura's lack of interest in her friends' love life suddenly.

"Sakura, hey are you listening to me forehead," Ino pestered on finally noticing the pulsating vein on the pink haired girls' forehead which threatened to burst at any moment along with her self-restraint.

Ino decided against talking further to preserve her own health. It was a well known fact that annoying a ninja was a bad thing, but it was substantially worse to anger a female ninja who was already on the borderline of killing the closest thing to her.

"Maybe we should just try to forget about that blonde knucklehead for a bit and enjoy ourselves. It's far and in between that we both find time off from missions and medical work," she added.

The pair seemed to walk on for nearly an hour with Ino trying to strike a bit of conversation with an emotionally empty Sakura container who seemed obsessed with the ground at her feet. It was only on their third lap around the village that Ino felt it best to usher her friend into the hot spring area to try to shock her from the eternal sorrow she appeared to have drowned in.

'Why is she taking this so hard,' she wondered since it didn't really affect her, Sakura had never liked Naruto in that way, so what was with the self loathing?

She managed to get her into the changing room, but she felt her own anger start to spill over when her pink haired friend just remained like a statue, despite the need to bathe; after all, walking around the village three times in nearing a hundred degree sunny weather made anyone feel yucky.

"For kami's sake. SNAP OUT OF IT," she shouted shaking Sakura like a rag doll, until she took a swing at her to make her cease.

"Good so there is someone still living inside," she smirked, only earning a growl from Sakura

"Hurry and get undressed so we can unwind. You're not acting like yourself," she said after already removing her purple clothes and wearing only a towel and smile.

Sakura frowned, but not because of seeing how well Ino had shaped up this time, it was annoying beyond all hell that her rival was right. She wasn't acting normal. Why was she so shaken up? Sure it did hurt that Naruto was being an idiot and not trusting her, hell he was even denying the fact he was with somebody. What was the point of him lying to her if it wasn't important? Unless he didn't feel comfortable talking to her about it, it was someone she knew, or maybe he felt she wouldn't feel okay with it.

Sakura felt her mind refocus as she looked down to see her breasts were partially exposed and she had already gone and gotten ready for a bath.

She gave a deep sigh and covered herself as she entered.

"I'm perfectly fine," she said to Ino with a matter of fact smirk she used regularly to hide pain. She'd perfected said smile thanks to her horrible teammates always either leaving her behind or hiding their problems from her.

She entered through the flaps they used to shade the occupants from peering eyes, not that it mattered much given the bath was mixed for the day; but she honestly couldn't care less. She lowered herself into the water, putting her head under and shouting until she felt her lungs burning for oxygen and surfaced.

"Ah," she sighed joyfully, feeling her soreness wash away along with some of the emotional tenderness in turn.

'What does it really matter if I know about Naruto's girlfriend,' she thought keeping her mouth underwater so she could blow a few random bubbles.

'He'll tell me sooner or later, I hope…maybe he's just embarrassed about it?'

That was probably it. Naruto, she knew for a fact, had terrible people skills. He never really had a relationship before or since the academy as far as she remembered.

Her attention soon came to the blonde female whose tits were nearly in her face next to her.

"Still having a problem with Naruto moving on, Sakura," the banshee known as Ino Yamanaka sang.

"I could care less, Ino pig. It's not like I have any trouble attracting men."

"Oh really? I think you're just heartbroken because now there isn't a single man in the village left who is interested in your large brow and tiny breasts," she teased, poking her rival in her minuscule bust.

Sakura smirked and shot right back.

"Yes, but at least I'm not willing to show myself for male attention."

Ino took a moment to contemplate Sakura's words. What did she mean by show herself? She didn't strut around showing off her body like some of the kunoichi population, but it was when she noticed the plate size bulging eyes of the males all too happy to see what they came down to the bathhouse for.

Ino twitched her eyebrow and darted her body underneath the warm water carefully wrapping her towel securely about her breasts and groin area. She gave Sakura a death glare that lost its effect with the crimson line that connected across her cheeks linking her ears.

"Why didn't you remind me it was mixed bathing today," she shouted causing all the staring men to turn their heads away from fear of said female retribution.

"There was something on my mind," replied Sakura all too smug with embarrassing Ino.

The blonde decided to brood, remaining with her face covered to her nose, and gazed around the bathhouse. Everything seemed normal, but now she was on the lookout given she just gave the male occupants a free show. She blinked a few times noticing a girl with a bob black hair cut, but what threw off her appearance was she had a towel wrapped about her head almost like she were trying to emulate the copy nin's appearance.

'Hmm why would she need a towel around her head,' she thought slowly starting to wade over to the female she never had seen before.

Ino began to approach the peculiar girl, but her attention was drawn away from the girl by the whistling and exasperated looks of the male species by the entrance of a special jounin.

*V*

She felt great. It should've been a crime for her to feel so happy after the work she'd just accomplished, but that would only be the opinion of a less morbid individual. She stretched with her arms to get out all the possible sore spots. It was a sad fact that torturing did make someone sore after about six hours straight, not that she minded. It took an abundant amount of willpower not to break from genjutsu and physical torment. However, it was just so rewarding to crack an individual after putting so much time and effort into it.

'Well my job is finished for the day, and Ibiki already took over for my paperwork. So there is only one thing left to do on a Sunday evening,' she thought with a smile that seemed hungry for some form of pleasure.

The female looked up at the hot spring and could only gaze in happiness since it was a day for mixed bathing.

"I hope I don't attract too much attention," she joked aloud, pushing away the flaps and entering the changing area.

Anko Mitarashi was far from being called a subtle kunoichi of the leaf village. She was seen by most people as a wild and unpredictable one. That and rumors had already been passed about the village regarding her appetite for male companionship, as well as her "kinky" love practices that had yet to be confirmed.

She took no time to strip herself free of her trench coat, shirt, shorts, underwear and fish net cover. She smirked evilly, heading into the bathhouse without covering her assets fully. She wasn't a modest female by any standards, but she did like to hide her more desirable part. She entered into the spring, noticing the hungry eyes of male attention she was receiving. She couldn't resist this affect she had on the males. It was sad how easy it was to get their attention with a small flaunting of flesh, but just because she enjoyed the attention didn't mean she was interested in any of them. What threw her off some was the black haired female who got a nose bleed from watching her enter with her bust fully observable. She waded up to breast level at the spring, and made extra sure to smile at all the females who gave her angry glares given the physically tempered state of her body.

'Ah, there's nothing like a little admiration to go with my relaxing,' she thought, placing her back against the wall of the spring.

She stretched her arms and untied her hair, allowing the trapped purple locks to unroll from behind her head and reach to her lower back. The temperature of the spring barely registered in her mind as she felt her heightened senses kick in and notice an unfamiliar presence which radiated with bad intent.

*V*

Jiraiya's attention came to full when his view was blocked by the well rounded rear of a purple haired female. He couldn't seem to help himself as he began to involuntarily shake while scribbling away in his research book. The girl was beautiful by any standards from what he could view from behind. From the angle he was at he could tell she had large breasts, rounded hips, and a thin center, making her perfect as a new character in the extended series he was thinking of starting.

His attention left all the others in the bath and focused solely on the beauty in front of his eyes, and to make matters worse he wanted to do something else beside watch. Jiraiya over the years had learned it was always best to look and not touch. It was easier that way to keep peeping if one was caught, since looking wasn't looked upon with much hatred; touching, on the other hand, quickly turned into being branded and wanting to be punished. He, in some corner of his mind, decided it best not to feel; but in the current situation, the good seemed to outnumber the bad.

"Wood Warping Jutsu," he whispered with a free left hand as he made a hole large enough for his hand to fit into.

His appendage slowly inched closer and closer, wanting to grope and fondle the soft fit rear that was tempting him to feel with each and every second. He was closer than a hair away, before he received something he hadn't expected.

Anko felt the presence behind her and reached back, taking a death grip on the offending limb that only managed to push her anger over the edge. The only thing worse than a peeping tom was a pervert. She pulled with all her strength, ripping the owner of the limb through the wooden fence and immediately pinning a kunai to the pervert's throat to show him she was serious.

Jiraiya couldn't believe the mistake he had just made. He knew about all the female ninja of Konoha village and he never wanted to anger the top three on his most dangerous list.

At number 1 was Tsunade, since she nearly killed him once before for just peeping at her; Number 2 was Sakura, simply because she was the apprentice to his psychotic teammate; and at 3 was Anko, simply because she was trained by Orochimaru so she had a natural need to be vicious like her old sensei.

"Hello…Anko…and where were you keeping that kunai," asked the Sanin with a blush, trying his hardest to make light of the situation, but knew already Anko was looking at him with the eyes of a hungry predator.

Sakura was quickly at Anko's side, staring down at the self proclaimed super pervert, making sure to keep herself fully covered.

"Enjoy the view Jiraiya," she asked with an evil glint, but was shocked with the white haired sanin vanished only leaving a wooden log

"Later, and nice breasts ladies," shouted Jiraiya as he jumped onto the roof of the bath and took off with amazing speed.

Anko jumped out of the water and prepared to take off after the escaping sanin, but couldn't. She didn't have any problem showing off her body in the bathhouse, but going around the village topless wasn't within reason. She took a hold of Sakura's towel ripping it free from the pink haired girl's body.

"AH," Sakura screamed, covering up her breasts and dropping down to shield her private area.

"I need it, besides you don't have anything to cover anyways," Anko shouted, starting her pursuit of the perverted sage.

Naruto's clone's eyes kept getting larger and the amount of blood it was losing from its nose bleed caused her to lose some consciousness and lay in the water with her towel floating off herself.

Sakura reached for the floating towel making sure to ignore the female lying face down in the water, she just wanted to be covered.

"What the hell is going on," Ino asked Sakura who just looked at her with blush that put tomatoes to shame.

"Damn perverts," Sakura whispered.

The wall around the spring collapsed after Anko had ripped the massive hole in it, revealing another pair of males who seemed to be relishing in the sight of naked female bodies. Sakura was infuriated to see Kiba and Shino as the pair doing so.

"KIBA, SHINO," yelled Ino who pulled her towel tightly against her body.

The majority of females screamed and began a stampede toward the exit. One of the few females was the black haired Naruto clone who slowly swam under the water to the nearest female and swiped her towel to replace the one for its face.

"Hey," came the shout of a familiar female's voice, which happened to belong to Ten-ten, the village weapon specialist.

"Sorry I need it," replied the clone, wrapping its face up, but giving the girl just enough time to catch a glimpse of the fox whisker scars on her face.

"Na…Naruto," Ten-ten said too quietly for anyone to hear, but now she effectively was angry. It was bad enough she came here when a serial pervert struck, but she never figured she would be getting molested by Naruto, the one ninja she thought Jiraiya and Kakashi hadn't tainted.

She gripped her cleaning bucket since she really just needed a throwable weapon and tossed it with all her strength, easily compensating for the weight, and smacking the clone in the back of the head.

*puff* She felt disappointed seeing it wasn't the real Naruto, but her attention was target soon onto the other peeping pair.

Kiba felt his face flush. He didn't mind at all seeing the girls naked, it was only natural for him to want to. But under the current circumstances, it probably would've been best he not see them. Shino tapped his teammate on the shoulder keeping his cool and knowing the best course of action at the given moment.

"Retreat," he said vanishing the next instant. However, his canine friend didn't keep a sharp state of mind since he didn't come back to senses until Sakura was nearly on top of him.

Sakura had enough for one day; she was tired of being harassed, insulted, and ignored. She felt her inner self now practically smashing against the walls of her head screaming one thing.

'KICK THEIR ASSES HELL YEAH!'

She walked up to the frozen Kiba with a demonic shine in her eyes as she popped her knuckles and prepared to crush the Inazuka.

"I thought you two were different, but now I can see you're both just like every other male in this village, a pervert who needs their ass kicked," she reeled back and swung, causing an explosion of dirt, rock, and the bath house.

Kiba never saw it coming as he suddenly felt pain beyond all imagination hit him, followed by a series of lesser strikes which came from Ino and Ten-ten from the best he could tell with a swollen face. He felt like blacking out shortly after the beating that only lasted seconds.

'How does Naruto live through those punches,' he thought before passing into a forced sleep.

Naruto heard the riot that was occurring on the other side of the bath house, but he didn't really seem too interested as he softly continued to massage the soap into Hinata's back, using only two of his fingers.

"That feel okay," he asked, hoping he wasn't doing anything that was excessive, given he and Hinata weren't technically together.

"It's very nice, your hand is very soft Naruto-kun," she replied trying to enjoy it, despite the permanent blush that seemed burnt into her face.

"Later and nice breasts ladies," echoed across the spring, leaving Naruto to sweat drop along with Hinata.

"Naruto-kun was that…"

"Yeah and that means we should leave now."

"Aww." she complained until she heard the booming of the fence collapsing along with the symphony of screams coming from the females.

"It would be best we l…"

"KIBA SHINO," Ino's enraged yell made Hinata suddenly go red.

'Kiba and Shino are here? Why are they here? Were they being peeping toms,' she couldn't think of an exact reason for them to be there, but leaving was definitely in their best interest.

The pair quickly dried and took little time to redress themselves as a loud explosion nearly knocked them off their feet.

"Naruto-kun what was that," Hinata gasped as her love made an extra quick movement to get his pants and shirt on knowing full well what that was.

"Sakura-chan," was all he said, shaking off the remaining water in his golden spikes and preparing to rush out when he remembered to cover up Hinata with his jacket before making a run home.

He ran out swiftly amongst the female population. He dodged and ducked where he could as he ran straight home. It didn't take Naruto long before he was at his small apartment, taking deep breaths, while resting against the closed door, to get the burning acid in his lungs to subside.

"Well we're home," Hinata chimed, looking up at her love's face; noticing his face was redder than usual for someone who merely was running fast and being a ninja didn't make her feel well.

"Naruto-kun, are you alright," she asked, not receiving an answer from her crush.

Hinata didn't know how to use shadow clones, but it was known by everyone who could use it that every time a clone dispelled it would transfer its memory back to its user. Since Ten-ten smashed his clone in the head with that wash bucket, he got back its memory - its whole memory of seeing numerous of his friends topless, and bottomless. But it was the images of Anko, Sakura, Ino, and Ten-ten topless that were branded permanently into his mind, along with leaving him with a faucet of blood coming from his nose.

"Naruto-kun? Naruto-kun? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine…just fine," he mumbled, wiping the blood from his nose and calming back down,

"Let's just go to bed," he said walking off to his room doing his best to not freak out Hinata about what had happened. Given the danger he avoided for the day, it was best to end it before something else happened.

Hinata couldn't figure out what Naruto had happen to make him bleed, but she decided to best let it go. She for one also was tired from the struggles of the day.

*V*

He felt so ashamed about what he had just done. He didn't expect for that to happen, he was only looking with his Byakugan, after all. Neji was embarrassed and was just thankful there wasn't anyone there to see him with a trace of blood on his upper lip and a little bit of pink underneath both eyes. It was an accident, but he knew he would never be able to get the sight out of his mind, and because of his Byakugan he saw every part of her body. He was focused on Naruto who was henged into a black haired female, but easy to spot given the fact he had his face shielded by a white towel. It was a simple task of watching him until he met with someone else, or did something to give away the identity of anyone he could be meeting with. He had been too focused to even notice the entire calamity that was conspiring in the spring. He thought something was wrong watching the female illusion get a bloody nose, however there was no reason he could detect for it.

'There isn't anywhere you can go that I won't see you, Naruto,' Neji thought with a self confident look plastered across his features.

He saw him start floating in the water and lose his towel around his head. He didn't seem one bit phased as he sat on the high branch of a tree. He never let him leave his sight. There wasn't a single thing going to break his concentration, even seeing a naked figure wouldn't affect him he was a Hyuuga, after all, and they trained themselves to not let emotions show.

He felt a trace of a smile tug at the corners of his lips, as he noticed the death glare Sakura was directing at Kiba and Shino who were behind the demolished wooden fence. He kept some of his sight on Naruto who suddenly replaced his towel with one from another female. He merely took a glance, that's all, it was not even an intentional look, but he couldn't help it when that look turned into a shocked lustful stare. Ten-ten was standing there in her full glory to the Hyuuga's eyes; she seemed entirely different from what he constantly saw of her from training and missions. Her buns of hair were fully down letting her hair hang down to her mid back, her breasts seemed so much larger than in her usual dress. Neji didn't want to keep looking he had important things to do, so why wasn't he looking away? Why? He lost his concentration for a second not realizing he was falling from his perch and heading to the earth at an increasing rate.

*BOOM*

He produced a series of coughs from his fall, his blood limit now deactivated.

"Beau…tiful," he wheezed between gasps for new air, but only having a single new problem burning on his mind.

'What can I do from here?'

*V*

Tsunade placed her forehead against her desk she felt the drain of being a Kage leeching at her energy and willpower given she just finished all her paperwork and it was already nearing midnight. Her eyes felt heavy and her hands ached with the need to either choke the hell out of anyone who gave her more paperwork, or force several bottles of sake down her throat.

'Why is the life of a Hokage focused around so much paper work? I'd rather be fighting to protect the village than filling out form after form,' she thought as her brain was already going into a haze, but being well aware of her surroundings wasn't something that diminished with being tired if you were a ninja.

"What are you doing here Jiraiya," she demanded as the pervert appeared in a swirl of smoke standing on one leg and smirking.

"Just thought I'd come to visit and report my findings."

"Really? Because a series of angry females were here earlier today complaining about your findings at the bathhouse."

"That's exactly why I decided to wait here. The last place anyone would look for me would be in your office." He smirked proud of his own genius, but felt his pride shrink under the fear inducing face of Tsunade.

"HAVE YOU NO SHAME PERVERT," she yelled at the top of her lungs, making the sanin's white hair go rigid from the sheer blast of air.

"Now, now… no need to go killing me. Besides, there was a reason why I came back to the village."

"Then start talking before I change my mind," she thundered due to both hatred for the pervert, and a lack of sleep that wasn't helping her irritability.

"Akatsuki seems to be underground. I've been trying to locate its members, but nothing has come up through my spy network, not even mentioning that our ex teammate seems to have vanished. However, I will be staying now for some time to accomplish a concern for Naruto."

Tsunade had been lying back calmly in her chair until the blonde brats name came up, it was this which made her sit up straight and put on a serious face.

"Go on."

"Even if their members have gone underground, Akatsuki still remains a great threat since only three of the remaining biju containers are still safe. Naruto will need me to train him even more to have a chance of defending himself."

"You don't plan on taking him away again do you?"

"No, he is safer here where we both can protect him if the need arises. However, I will be staying here and need a place to stay," he said with an unusually large smirk.

"You're not staying at the Hokage mansion with me Jiraiya, especially since I know you own four different houses in the village."

"Yes and since that is public knowledge, I would appreciate my Kage providing some protection for the village's spymaster. Just for a few days would be fine."

Tsunade smiled, she had gotten complaints earlier from four particular kunoichi - Sakura, Ino, Anko, and Ten-ten. But it was probably only Anko who would go to extreme enough lengths to actually bobby trap the Sage's homes, with deadly traps at that.

"I'm sure you'll make do, Jiraiya," she chimed as she got up from her seat and did her best to hide her laughter since his face seemed to extend and pale all over.

"Sleep well," she added, leaving the sage to fend for himself since it was rare he got his just desserts for his dirty habit.


	8. Spring Time of Youth!

**A/N**

Um where should I start...Yeah...Well you'll see another update in three years. Just kidding. What can I say other than life has been crazy. We all make plans to accomplish, yet we forget about them as we make new ones. I will try to update/finish this story soon so I can focus primarily on my other fanfiction. I thank you all for reading this and I do apologize for the gaps of time between updates. Enjoy and know more is on the way.

* * *

The weather had taken a turn for the worse. Konoha had unfortunately been caught in a peculiar weather system. It had rained two days ago and been pleasant yesterday. However, Kami felt justified to turn up the heat of the sun, which made the villagers not dare venture from their homes. However, there was a duo that felt the inferno like temperature could only add to the fury of the youthful flames.

Guy and his carbon copy Lee had just finished their morning two hundred laps around the village. Both had decided to further their pursuit of youthful strength by the addition of weights to their legs. Although neither felt it to be a problem to add another hundred pounds of weight on each leg and do one hundred laps around the village. It seemed like a silly game they played as each pushed themselves to the next level. Silly or not it had effectively helped them both, since they were both taijutsu specialists and geniuses of hard work.

"Guy-sensei, since I couldn't defeat you in the race around the village, I will do another two hundred laps on my hands"

"Yosh Lee. I shall race you around the village and wear weights upon my arms as well,"

The pair shot back and forth neither seeming to run out of stamina. The gymnastic hand race was about to begin, but the event came to a halt before it had even began. An Anbu member in an owl mask arrived in a burst of smoke.

"Might Guy," he said as more of a statement then a question to the jounin

"Hai" he said rather shocked and childish as he stood there on his hands.

"The Hokage requests you come to her office due to a mission assignment for you," he explained as he vanished in a haze of smoke.

"Lee I must meet with Tsunade-sama. Continue to train until I return."

"Hai, Guy-sensei," Lee shouted back to his mentor and began off on his hands.

Guy seemed to disappear without the extra effect of smoke or leaves as it was far better to just run with his speed anyways. Lee was persisted without another thought, although he was taken aback by the situation at the loss of the one person able to keep up with his bottomless force of will. He neared the entrance to the village when a thought struck him like a solid blow to the head.

"_Naruto would be an excellent training partner until Guy-sensei returns,"_ he thought with a sudden gush of fire in his eyes.

"_I'll go ask him to train with me,"_ he disappeared in a cloud of dust, taking off with lightning speed even though he was still walking on his hands oblivious to what he was doing.

* * *

She woke with a small yawn that she hid well with her left hand and rolled over into the soft pillow, which was the nape between Naruto's shoulder and neck. Hinata took in a deep breath and savored the natural scent of her love. He smelt like the forest with ramen mixed into it.

"Ah," she sighed pleased that she was still in a dream always connected to her Naruto-kun.

Well she knew he wasn't technically her's, however she felt deeply linked to him physically and emotionally recently. Over the past two days they shared tears, laughs, and many smiles over the simple activities many would just see as ordinary. It surprised her to no end that trivial things were vastly more enjoyable when Naruto was there. She couldn't quite explain it, yet it felt like the blonde was like a candle adding just a little more light and warmth to all the places and persons came into contact with.

She had a long stretch as she eyed the clock and relished the rare opportunity to sleep in. The Main House made each of its members try and uphold a standard of both self-discipline and punctuality. Ninja were used to little sleep on missions if sleep was an option at all. It made the opportunity all the more wonderful to be shared with the blonde who was asleep with a rather awkward smile plastered on.

"You look so cute Naruto-kun," she sighed and took the opportunity to kiss him on his cheek, which made him give a pleasured moan.

"_I should make Breakfast for Naruto-kun_" she thought and felt the urge to take care of the man before her. She lifted herself up and realized she had yanked on her crush's shoulder, and pulled him out of bed with her burst of motion.

"Gah," Naruto yelped as he came to his senses the instant prior to contact with the floor.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata shouted as she came down to look her love in the face, though to her surprise the head trauma he sustained had put him back into a forced sleep.

"Gomen Naruto-kun," she pleaded fully aware of how superfluous the exchange of words was.

Hinata decided it best to wake him, although it would take far too long to do so. That and she wanted to prepare breakfast for the male. She forced his arm to move toward the kitchen as she dragged him across the floor without much effort due to the nice clean surface. Hinata groaned when she reached the counter tops, but she needed to somehow get the body she was attached to up higher. She grabbed a hold Naruto's black shirt and hauled with all her strength. She was shocked when she lifted him up partly, but without the use of his legs the pair flopped back down on the floor like a fish out of water.

"_I didn't know I was so strong,"_ she thought and searched about for an object to prop her passed out crush on.

She decided to reach out for the chair at the dinner table. She got a firm grip on one of its legs and yanked it over in a single burst of strength. The Hyuuga girl was rather confused as to how she could be so powerful while she was so small. She knew that she maintained control of the arm she was attached to though currently it felt like Naruto's body was a puppet as she had to perform all his actions.

"_Three, Two, One!"_ she thought and heaved her love up on the chair. He hit suddenly and his legs and arms swayed about like tethers of rope. It took a few more tries before she was able to get him to sit upright and balanced so he wouldn't fall and crap his head.

"_Alright one thing at a time_," she smiled and slowly dragged the chair to the fridge to find ingredients that she could fabricate a delicious meal.

* * *

The bath house was filled with sounds of joy as a group of females relished in the therapeutic properties of the hot spring. A series of splashes followed by giggles and more water activities tempted the white haired man to ignore his objective.

"_Akatsuki seems to have gone underground, but the threat on the last three containers hasn't decreased,_" he thought wondering how it was really possible for that to be true.

None of the known faction members had been located in any of the five elemental nations. He had prayed with some sense of false hope the threat would fade like them into the dark. However, the danger seemed ever present. The rumors around were a series of attempts on the tailed best containers. A "secret" agreement in the Hidden cloud village had made both containers B and Yugito simply vanish overnight.

Jiraiya had to admire the seriousness in which all the current village leaders took towards the growth of the Akatsuki organization. Although, just the thought of an all missing nin group that ranged from Jounin to Kage level was enough to make even a formidable ninja take notice and give a wide birth.

The sannin shook off the trail of thought as he took a moment to arch his back and pop the sore and injured joints from where he had slept last night.

He had attempted the night before to visit one of his houses in the village. He had in the past been called a cautious man even when in his home of Konoha. Many would find him over protective and paranoid.

Jiraiya had after the previous night's incident been happy to have been mistrustful, since when his clone entered his house the living room had exploded into a gargantuan inferno. He had thankfully received the memory safely in the confines of the Hokage's Mansion. Tsunade was sure to kill him if she ever knew he had snuck in and eluded all of her Anbu guards with such a childish trick.

"_It's nice to know that the hidden passages still lead into a few of the guest rooms"_ he snickered as he knew about passages that led to and from the mansion.

He had helped add a few of his own for when he and Minato had needed to work late and he hadn't wanted to worry Kushina. Although, truthfully Jiraiya had knew his student too well and figured he only had those routes put in to allow his pregnant wife an easy escape should an attack happen on their home.

"Where did those pleasant times go," he whispered as he took a long stare at the Yondaime's face on the mountain side.

It had only been recently. As he finally started to take his God-father position seriously and took care of Naruto. Minato's face on the mountain side seemed to have started to turn into an approving smirk and not a smock that made him feel like he was in trouble.

"Gomen," he heard shouted by a green blur with orange hair?

The sannin blinked a series of times and wasn't sure if he noticed that the person who ran by him had been on his hands. He figured it was best to ignore the bizarre site and simply continue on his way to find Naruto and instruct him before they lost most of the day.

* * *

"Naruto-kun, Naruto-kun,"

The blonde male felt like the throb in his skull had started to say his name and call him back into reality. He slowly opened his eyes and felt them tear up due to the instant absorption of the daylight.

"Naruto-kun are you alright," pierced through the headache that threatened to split his skull in half.

"Hinata-chan," he asked as he reached back and felt the sore protrusion on the back of his head.

"I'm sorry, how are you feeling," she apologized for the forced nap she had given him.

"I'm alright…what smells so good," he spoke when the sudden smell of eggs and spices reached his nose.

Hinata moved back so she could see face to face with her precious and show him what she had been hard at work with.

" I made breakfast for you, today I decided to make you an omelet with a bit of pepper sauce," she smiled, taking a pre cut piece of the food item and carrying it up to the still sleepy face of her love.

Naruto played along and opened his mouth and relished in that she fed him. From the first bite he knew that all the meals that were to come were bound to be even more blissful. The eggs tasted wonderful and he didn't know what it had been about the spice she had put in, but it seemed to spark on the tip of his tongue and explode outward to the rest of his taste buds.

It was peculiar to him how Hinata's food seemed almost enhanced by her feelings for him. Love, apparently, was possibly the best ingredient that could be added to any type of food. At least that is what he could guess from the few meals he had eaten so far.

"How is it," Hinata cut in, making him realize he had been merrily lost in his trivial thoughts and managed to leave the insecure female before him worried he found displeasure in the cuisine.

"It's wonderful," he glowed and took the fork out of his companions miniature hands and began to eat slowly, by his standards, to consume the delicacy before him.

Hinata smiled taking her own fork and began to eat as well. That was until she found a bit of food being held in front of her face by Naruto.

She blushed a deep red not sure what to do, since at the moment her mind couldn't even manage to open her mouth and take a bite. It was an endearment to have him feed her, yet she had been embarrassed enough as she did the act for him; but to have him do the same for her, she couldn't handle it.

"_I…Um…It's…,_" her mind spiraled to place the letters together to formulate some type of coherent word.

Naruto decided it best to help her, as he expelled a mini sigh and did what only came naturally.

"Say' ah'," he whispered to her and pushed the bit of food toward her lips, and she gradually accepted the offer with a sincere smile.

"Thank you Naruto-kun," she mumbled through a partially full mouth, which felt both improper and fun to do.

"Thanks for breakfast," he smiled back as the pair shared yet another joyful meal and smiles to go along with it.

* * *

"_Now where was it again,"_ he wondered as he decided it was time to find someone to assist him.

Rock Lee had gone about the small district twice and in his haste forgotten which house Naruto lived in. Well he had no idea if it was a house or an apartment, since he never had gone to greet Naruto at his home. Normally they always bumped into each other at the village gate, a training ground, or at the Hokage's office.

"I won't give that goes against the spring time of youth. I shall find help," he shouted, which caused many of the inhabitants nearby to jump and stare at him with fear and worry that he went mad.

He kept on his path and knew that eventually he'd run into someone who had to know the directions to Naruto's home. He came to a stop when he noticed a male with brown spiky hair, like Naruto. To his fortune the male was headed toward him along with another two. The female had orange hair with almost painted on blush on her cheeks and another brown haired boy with a small drip of mucus that hung out of his nose.

"So why isn't Ebisu-sensei able to train us today," Moegi questioned, since she hadn't shown up to the meeting place due to a loud explosion that had rocked her house the night before.

"The messenger said he caught a fever of some sort, but I think he was just up late with his dirty magazines and didn't get enough sleep," Konohamaru added with his arms crossed on his chest.

"Excuse me?"

The trio came to an abrupt halt and stared at the man before them. They all shared a concerned glance, questioning the sanity of the person before them who was walking about upside down.

"Yes," Udon responded as he was the first to recover from the surprise

"Where is Naruto-kun's house," Lee asked as he started to feel dizzy from the blood that rushed to his head.

Konohamaru wondered who in the world this person was and what he wanted from Naruto. Although, he had to admit it wasn't a bad idea to go and ask Naruto to train him and his team for the day to make up for the loss of their teacher.

"Alright were going to see Naruto-niisan" Konohamaru shouted and lead the odd quartet to their destination

* * *

The collective pair started to clean up their meal. Hinata had decided to scrub their plates, while Naruto dried and put them away the best he could with a single hand. They carried out their activity in silence as they had started to grow accustomed to their continual companionship.

Hinata hadn't really thought about what they could possibly do, since they had the entire day to be together and not many options. This was because ninja frequently occupied their time with training and missions; but both of those activities were excluded as needed to protect their secret and each other.

Neither of them wished to ponder what would possibly happen if one of them got hurt or killed. If Hinata were to get hurt or killed, would she return to her actual body and would Naruto get his hand back? That was only one of the problems for them, since both of them weren't really out going in activities.

"_Wonder what she is thinking about,"_ Naruto had thought, since the Hyuuga had on such a serious face. It confused him as to what they could do that required such a serious expression.

He for one was actually thinking about a certain movie, which Sakura had put into his mind and he just hadn't been able to shake it free.

"Tranquil Sonata," he whispered, which was loud enough to make Hinata perk her head up and smile.

"You want to see a movie Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah, since that's normally how dates are, right?"

"A date," Hinata yelped feeling overjoyed and also frightened

"You don't want to," he asked innocently, just to see how he could get her to react to the tease.

"No, I mean Yes…I," she couldn't properly assemble the letters into words as she poked her index fingers together to calm herself down and make the blush on her features start to fade.

"I'll just take that as a yes, then," he smirked and put the last of their dishes away and went to his bedroom to dress for the day.

It took a few moments for him to fully dress himself in his usual clothes and make sure to grab Gama-chan.

"Hinata-chan?"

"Naruto-kun," she replied happy to be on a first date with Naruto. When a collaboration of voices outside of the door made the blonde nearly start to hyperventilate.

"Naruto-kun are you home? I wanted to ask you to train with me while Guy-sensei is busy with the Hokage," Lee shouted as he knocked with one of his feet.

"Naruto nii-san, we need someone to train us for the day," echoed the voice of Konohamaru.

Naruto panicked and dashed for the bathroom since he couldn't exactly think of a plan without incredible difficulty. Although as a ninja it was almost ingrained in him to improvise when dealt with a harsh situation.

"Turn into a hand," he whispered to Hinata

She did so and he immediately formed a hand seal, which made another Naruto poof into existence.

"Just stall them and stay here for the rest of the day," he ordered and slipped out the window to land with a small thud in the back alley.

The clone shrugged and opened up the door just enough for his face to show. It just prayed and hoped beyond logic that the visitors would leave and not ask questions.

"Hello," it asked and pretended that all was well. Although it did have to widen its eyes when it saw Lee still on his hands at his door, which was a concern as his face was fully red.

"Naruto-kun, won't you train with me today?…. A race around the village followed by a spar would be beneficial to…us both," he stuttered as the blood rush made his verbalization suffer.

"No, Naruto-niisan, can you teach us some new jutsus? Ebisu-sensei has become ill," Konohamaru cut in

"Or at least treat us to a meal," Udon added somewhat hungrily.

The clone's mind seemed empty of ideas as it couldn't do any of those things, since any impact would cause it to dispel. It needed to play things off so they would leave him alone and not spread any rumors about his situation. He placed on his most pathetic face in an attempt to appear far worse off than expected.

"I'm not feeling well enough to train I think some of the ramen I ate yesterday must've been a little undercooked," he grumbled and held onto his stomach as he made small cringes to pretend there were cramps in his gut.

"But," Konohamaru started when the door was suddenly shut in his face.

Udon and Mogei both looked rather bewildered why Naruto had run inside in such a fashion and seemed to be ill. The trio all came to the same conclusion of food poisoning and figured it was probably an emergency run to the bathroom. Konohamaru sighed with great aggravation now that the day was just to be wasted without any chance of growing stronger.

"Guess we're free today," he grumbled and left down the stairs with his teammates.

"Yeah, so what are we going to do then," Moegi asked as they continued to debate until they were long out of ear range.

"Food…." Udon moaned out looking paler then a sheet of paper.

Lee was adamant about getting some training in, but this visit had shown him a serious problem. While it was against the flames of youth for Naruto to slam the door in his face and refuse to train alongside him, the situation the blonde was in was dire. Naruto was never one to turn down training, since even when in the hospital he had attempted to get away with some light training. However, he had turned it down so suddenly the only conclusion was that Naruto was dying!

"I'll return with help, Naruto-kun. I won't let you suffer much longer. Tsunade-Sama, Sakura-Chan," he shouted and took off, finally on his feet, in a cloud of dust.

The clone rolled his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief that the disaster had been averted, temporarily anyways. It just could only hope that the real Naruto wouldn't get caught by the sudden wave of "help" on the way.

* * *

*Downtown Konoha*

The pair rested easy now thankfully far away from the house and safely concealed amongst the mass of villagers in the business district. Naruto had taken it upon himself to henge into a female with long black hair in an elegant blue and red silk dress that came complete with a small face cover to hide the ever present scars on his cheeks.

It was indeed a risk as far as travel as he went about the village with a disguise on. It was a great way to stand out, since most Chunin and higher rank ninja could sense a henge easily. However, he planned to only use it until they reached the theater and would release the illusion from there. A few more minutes went by and they had finally arrived at their destination. It wasn't a truly glamorous picture theater, it looked more like a restaurant front if not for the pay to enter person at the door.

He decided to walk around back and return to his original form as he figured it was best to do so in a private place to avoid suspicion. He decided to fully drop all the illusions and merely decided to place his right hand into his jacket pocket as they already cut a hole into the fabric for Hinata to breathe.

"Alright, let's do this," he whispered to Hinata as he left the safety of the alley and ventured into the shortest line to acquire the ticket.

The man behind the glass window blinked his eyes to focus on the people on the other side of the glass. From the looks of things it appeared the man had a squint due to absence of corrective lens. Naruto smiled as he didn't care if it was luck or kami's grace to make up for his terrible childhood. He approached and opened up the zipper on his gama-chan wallet and got out enough money for two people.

"Two…I mean one for Tranquil Sonata," he corrected and knew he had managed to ruin a perfectly good chance to take advantage of his opponent's weakness.

The man's brown eyes seemed to glaze over a bit as he searched the boy before him up and down. He seemed satisfied after a few moments and decided it was alright as he tore off a single ticket and reached for the payment. Naruto pushed the money over as abruptly as possible to try and limit all forms of foreign physical contact as it was in his and Hinata's best interest. He took the little piece of paper and made a bee line for the doorway.

"You, in the orange," echoed out from one of the men on guard at the entrance.

Naruto felt like he had been forced to swallow down a brick, since the immediate struggle to breathe had become rather frequent over the past two days. A male dressed in a pair of loose brown shorts and a skin tight black shirt approached him. The man towered over him by nearly an entire foot. He wiped away the sweaty brown hair from his eyes and looked far too serious for someone who worked security.

"Yes," Naruto began, but was interrupted by a sudden kick to his shin.

He jumped around on his unharmed left leg while he shook Hinata about in his jacket, which made it feel like her brain was mixed into a fine mush.

"What the hell was that for," he shouted hard enough to cause some of the man's sweat to fly away from his head.

"Apologizes, I didn't mean you any harm. The business has suffered as many genin stand on each other's shoulders and with a henge get one of them in for free," he bowed deeply and even opened the door for Naruto.

Naruto limped and wondered if maybe there was a sign on his head that demanded everyone hit him in some way. Especially, since he had already, over the past few days, been struck by both TenTen and Sakura. These incidents only seemed to prove his theory that much more. He walked down into the small hall to his destination, which was easy to find as there were only two movies showing at a time.

Naruto took it as a true gift from kami, because the theater was all but empty save for a few older couples. He pumped his left arm glad to see that they had gotten in a bit late and the lights were already dimed. The seat he found was in the back far enough away from any other viewers to be able to speak quietly with his date.

"Things seem to be well," he whispered to Hinata as he brought her out of his pocket so she had a clear view of the screen.

She gave a relieved sigh as it had been like a sauna in the small nook.

"Is anyone around," she asked and peaked about with his sleeve held up on her face so she could survey the area.

"I don't think anyone can hear us now."

"That's great," she smirked. Hinata decided to get comfortable and leaned back on Naruto's chest.

Naruto felt a wave of relief flow about himself, because it was a relief to return to a normal lifestyle. Well he at least lied to himself that it was normal.

"_Best to just enjoy the movie,"_ he thought feeling it best to clear his mind to absorb the film.

* * *

He really didn't know if it was a coincidence or if he was smart enough to predict his target's actions. He had decided after the "incident" the day before he would simply go and confront Naruto about the issue. However, he hadn't expected to meet his female teammate while on the way to the blonde's home. Neji was still a bit flustered to see TenTen after he saw all her secrets, but it was the image of her naked when his eyes stared too long that kept him distracted. Although, when they walked through the business district he spotted an orange and black jumpsuit disappear into the theater. It was far too great an opportunity to overlook.

"I can't believe that yesterday we had a pervert attack at the hotspring, and now they only have half the space until the Hokage decides to assign a genin team to rebuild the fence," thundered his auburn haired teammate

TenTen was never one to admit it, but she had a large amount of modesty. She did consider herself less feminine than other girls, yet she dressed in her outfits to prevent showing off what she had. She continued on with her conversation, oblivious to Neji whose gaze had wandered. He squeezed his inner lip between his teeth. He enjoyed the conversations with his friend, but an incapacitated cousin took precedence.

"Would you like to see a movie," he asked confused by the abrupt jerk from his companion.

TenTen hadn't expected that. She was also unsure if there could possibly be another reason why Neji would ask her that. He was a Hyuuga and even if he was part of the branch family there were strict standards for anyone who wanted to date. She was unsure what it could mean, although she knew it was best to appear uninterested to see if she could gather any other information.

She broke the chain of her thoughts and decided to agree.

"Sure," she turned and offered a smile.

The pair walked right up to the window as the crowd had died down. Neji suddenly felt like an idiot, because there were two movies and he had no idea what Naruto would come to watch. It was a split decision while one was more of a dramatic film the other was a horror movie.

"Two for Tears of blood," TenTen's voice cut in before he could figure out where Naruto would be.

He turned to the auburn female and she immediately saw the question in his neutral features.

"Did you want to see the romantic movie with me, Neji," she questioned sarcastically, although Neji was sure there was a hint of curiosity behind it.

"No, it is fine," he confirmed, even though the blonde annoyance would more than likely not be in the same theater.

Neji gritted his teeth and pulled out a bundle of ryu notes from a wallet he kept hidden in his gi.

He would need to wait it out, and thankfully it seemed the romance was of greater length and would allow him to find Naruto once he was finished. It wasn't a problem and he decided it wouldn't hurt for him to enjoy the time he had with his friend. That and being in the dark with her would help him keep his mind off her bare flesh.

* * *

Tsunade lay back in her chair, relieved knowing that she had time to relax. There had been a bit of paperwork to do over the past day, but she had been able to push most of it off to her two apprentices. She closed her eyes tightly and relished in the peace of mind she felt as she attempted to sneak in a quick afternoon nap.

"_Ah, if there were more days like this I could get used to this job_" she thought, but the thud of an angry stamp brought her back to reality.

Sakura wrote with great exuberance and she worried that her strength would destroy some of the more delicate scrolls. Shizune seemed to have noticed too, but given her experience with her sensei she knew it was best to stay out of the way of anyone with ridiculous strength.

"Sakura?"

The pink haired girl didn't seem able to hear her master's voice as she pushed another scroll to the side and snatched a new one from the master stack between her and Shizune.

"Sakura," she demanded loud enough to blast the angry aura clear out the open window.

Sakura surfaced from the emotional deluge and cleared her head long enough to want to explain herself to her master. That was until the door began pounding along with a loud commotion.

"You're not allowed inside. The Hokage is busy at the moment," a muffled voice of Izumo started.

"It's an emergency, though," shouted loud and clear as a green clad Rock Lee pushed his way past the two Chunin and halted only when he contacted the Hokage's desk.

"Tsunade-sama," Lee was stopped when Izumo and Kotetsu wrestled him to the floor and covered his mouth.

"Sorry, Hokage-sama. He's surprisingly strong, we will..."

"What is the emergency?"

"Naruto-kun is dying," Lee announced at the top of his lungs

The room filled with a deathly silence, no one dared to speak after that comment. It wasn't something anyone took lightly, since all of them dealt with death frequently in their occupation.

"Sakura, based on your evaluation do you think this makes sense," Tsunade asked unconvinced by Lee's medical opinion.

Sakura had tried all day to get herself over the fact that Naruto had acted nothing like himself, since he normally was open about his problems as well as his successes. However, what bugged her most was when he acted closed off. It always reminded her of a particular black haired ex-teammate.

"He's perfectly healthy. The only thing weird is the person he's decided to date," she said without care.

Tsunade stood up from her chair and immediately came close enough to Sakura to make her feel slightly intimidated.

"Naruto has started to date," Tsunade asked not surprised that the little brat had found someone to love him, but more so in that she hadn't heard about it.

"Hai…he…"

"I would like to meet her," Tsunade announced to everyone in the room.

* * *

It was finally time to get to business; he popped his knuckles and prepared himself. Jiraiya knocked upon the door to Naruto's apartment and knew he did owe it to Minato to give his only child the experience to keep him alive. However, it was a struggle for him. Every time he tried to train the kid, he would go on like a broken record to learn a new jutsu.

"Naruto?"

"What, Ero-sennin?"

"Don't call me that. Show some respect to the great toad sage, Jiraiya. A man whose very name makes women's legs weak, and who many would kill to have train them."

"Yeah," responded the clone as its eyes rolled about in their sockets.

"Naruto, come out and I promise to teach you a new jutsu," Jiraiya offered as bait to get him to open the door.

"I'm not feeling too well. I need to rest," he groaned and tried to figure out how to get rid of the pervert.

Jiraiya was a bit taken back. He knew the Kyubbi's chakra would allow for Naruto to heal quickly and not get easily fatigued. But, he was unsure if it would prevent illness. Either way he needed to get inside and get to work. After all, his opponents wouldn't wait for him to be healthy before they attacked.

The man formed a series of hand seals and placed his palm against the door.

"Keyless entry," he said as the wood of the door thinned and disappeared.

The clone panicked and decided to take on the offensive as it formed a henge hand seal and ran at the pervert in his Naruko form.

"Jiraiya-kun," it called and ran at the perv.

Jiraiya couldn't help himself as he opened his arms and prepared to catch the female. The clone had another idea as it pushed him hard enough to make him fall over the ledge of height made by the stairs. The toad sage had a large blush on, but recovered from his perversion before he struck the ground as he righted himself and landed on his feet.

The clone decided to take this away from the house as it leaped off the ledge as well and landed beside Jiraiya.

"Play with me, Jiraiya-kun," it called as it ran off and left streams of smoke to maintain its dignity.

Jiraiya couldn't control himself and decided to take off. He guessed Naruto must've felt better at his offer to teach him a jutsu, and became his counterpart as a way to thank him.

*One hour later*

The clone felt like it had finally run out of steam. It had been smart enough to lead Jiraiya to parts of the village where its user wasn't. However, it could keep this up as it started to get tired as it burned more chakra with the henge on. It tired out by some bushes in the village and had to catch its breath. It examined where it was and had an evil smile when it realized where.

"Where are you," Jiraiya called and came through the plants and spotted his target.

The clone waved its one finger to signal it wasn't about to be caught. It giggled and hopped through the brush behind it and was glad when it dispelled. Jiraiya on the other hand wasn't as fortunate as he jumped through the bushes to follow, only to land in water. The toad sage surfaced and shook himself to try and dry his clothes, but then he turned and noticed a rather large group of angry Kunoichi.

Jiraiya had to blink a few times and realized he had been so distracted in the chase of a female that he had forgotten where he was in the village.

"It's that pervert again," shouted a black haired female

The bathhouse appeared to suddenly explode as a large squad of twenty Kunoichi, still in combat gear, rushed out.

"Get him," echoed the collective females as they made Jiraiya start a new chase around the village.

* * *

Naruto blinked as the memories of his clone came to him. He felt a sweat drop rush down his head at the, so called, idea his clone had to distract Jiraiya. However, he couldn't argue with the results of it.

His mind refocused on the situation in the theater as the movie had started to come to its climax of the two lovers now about to be separated by a war that loomed on the horizon. He looked down and couldn't help his smile as Hinata appeared to have tears in her eyes in empathy for the lead actress.

"_I don't want to leave, but…,"_ he thought with no shortage of worry in the situation.

He brought his other hand up and poked her lightly on her cheek to get her attention. Hinata jumped at the sudden contact, but felt even more embarrassed at the tear drops that ran down her face.

"We have a problem," he whispered to her as they had to decide what was needed.

* * *

Neji felt bored out of his mind as he watched the film continue on. It had been better than he expected it to be. It was the standard horror where a certain item had a curse placed upon it by specific events in the past. Then some idiot is crazy enough to take the item and he and his friends started to die quite rapidly.

He was surprised at how well TenTen was composed, although they dealt with death on a regular basis so the sight of fake slaughter didn't do much for them.

He turned his head to the right side so that his companion couldn't see his eyes as he activated his Byakugan to see if he could locate Naruto. He smirked at how easy it was to locate the blonde as he had such a large amount of chakra. It was like a sun among candles.

He examined the male and noticed that there was something off about the distribution of chakra around his body. It was like he had a henge up, but his body wasn't any different than its usual appearance.

TenTen kept her eyes on the film, yet she couldn't help her gaze that slipped toward her companion. She noticed he was preoccupied by something so important that he didn't even want to focus on the entertainment on screen.

"_What are you so concerned with," _she queried and noticed how the movie were about to hit a climatic jump point.

It made her wonder if maybe she could do anything in particular to get his attention back. She grinned as silence set in and she prepared for the jump moment of the film.

"_Maybe he wants a girl who is vulnerable," _she wondered and prepared to cling to him as a helpless female.

*Tranquil Sonata theater*

Naruto had just explained the situation to Hinata and they both had agreed it was best if they got back to his home before someone else started to search for him.

He got up and left his seat, which was easy as the seats between him and the door were vacant.

*Tears of Blood theater*

Neji noticed Naruto leave and ran out to catch him.

Unbeknownst to him, TenTen pretend flinched and turned to grab him only to find air and fell into the seat next to her. She caught herself before she smacked her chin, yet she couldn't help feel a bit down at the disappearance of her teammate.

"_I wonder if this is how Hyuuga's play hard to get,"_ she deliberated with an abundance of anger and aggravation.

Naruto sighed in relief as he exited the business and began his walk out onto the streets, yet it felt like a hole was about to burn into the back of his head.

When he turned around he nearly swallowed his tongue at the sight of a pair of pale, Hyuuga male eyes that appeared rather angry by his guess. Although, he had to admit that Neji always appeared angry with his natural stoic facial expression.

"Uzumaki-san, we need to speak about…," Neji couldn't finish as Naruto almost seemed to vanish as he took off in a sprint toward the training grounds.

The blonde male didn't know exactly what he was up to, because he normally would've tried to talk his way out of trouble. However, with Neji he wasn't sure if he saw anything out of the ordinary about his body. He felt like he had only been at full sprint for a few seconds, but to his relief when he looked back Neji was nowhere to be seen.

Hinata felt like her heart were about to explode with the number and intensity of the shakes she had experienced. She thought it was to be a slow and casual walk back home not a run for their life.

Naruto came to a sudden halt when he faced forward and felt a hand smash into his chest and grab hold of his jacket.

It hadn't been a gentle fist strike by the best he could tell, but the force alone on that specific location was enough to knock all the air out of his lungs. He took a second to recuperate his mental faculties and was shocked to see the same set of pale eyes stare into him.

"Hello, Neji," he offered, although he was certain now if Neji hadn't been furious before, he was now.

Neji looked a bit sweaty from the short run, but he was thankful that Guy's ridiculous practice sessions had made him quite fast.

"Uzumaki, why did you run away from me," he inquired and tightened his grip to emphasize that he wanted an answer.

"Can't say," he partly laughed and felt a rush of relief when Neji released him and decided they could talk like civilized individuals.

"I wished before to speak with you about your personal relationship issues and also the effects it has had on Hinata," he stated and his facial features softened as he mentioned his cousin.

Hinata couldn't help it, but she gasped at the mention of her name and the possibility of a relationship with Naruto.

Neji's ear perked at the gasp, because it sounded like Hinata's voice. He stared about and tried to locate the source and his eyebrow slightly rose as he saw Naruto kept his right hand in his jacket pocket. He knew Naruto for only a few years and he never recalled a time, other than recently, where he kept his hands in a pocket.

"Uzumaki, may I see your right hand," he demanded more than asked and walked toward him

Naruto panicked and started to back up. He couldn't let Neji see Hinata like this and he couldn't exactly fight him off should he decide to use force.

"Why," he asked and didn't back down, which was just in hope that he could intimidate the male.

Neji wore a confused expression at the sudden forceful nature Naruto showed, but it wasn't enough to work on him.

"Show me your hand now, Uzumaki," Neji shouted only inches away from his face.

Naruto felt his blood run cold at the way the Hyuuga yelled at him. Neji was always soft spoken, as all Hyuuga had a power behind their words, even when they were quiet. However, the shout he had given off had almost a desperate rage and fury buried within it.

Naruto couldn't believe what he had decided to do.

Hinata felt her blood run cold as she was withdrawn from his pocket and revealed for her cousin to see.

"_Naruto-kun, no,"_ she shrieked in her mind

Neji had to stare wide eyed at the image he was sure had to be some type of illusion. There on Naruto Uzumaki's right hand was a miniature version of Hinata that appeared to have a little dress on that said she loved him. He had to blink a series of times to make sure his eyes weren't about to fail on him.

"Uzumaki, this kind of behavior is disturbing, I figured you wouldn't take after either of your senseis."

"Neji-nii-san!"

Neji looked at the small female and couldn't believe what he heard. Hinata had, only after the Chunin exams, started to call him by that name; but he had made her promise to only do so in private and she hadn't broken that. He moved in closely and couldn't help himself as he began to speak with a puppet.

"Hinata-sama," he offered

"We need to talk," they said in unison.

Neji felt a cinderblock form in his stomach and refuse to be dislodged from his body. They had spoken at the same time and that meant it wasn't a form of ventriloquism.

*One Hour later*

Neji had decided to sit and listen to the entire scenario thus far and couldn't believe what had occurred. In his entire life he could never imagine that such a technique existed, yet he figured that the technique would eventually stop. So it removed the fear of Hinata's death. Although, the predicament they were in seemed problematic from a mission standpoint.

"Neji, I don't know exactly how or what will make the jutsu end."

"Hinata-sama, can you remember any of the things that happened before you were attached to Naruto?"

"No, I just woke up like this after I performed the jutsu."

"Hinata-sama, we need to inform the clan of this matter so that something can be done to help you."

"We can't do that," Naruto interrupted and made the pair look at him in shock.

"Uzumaki, aren't you be concerned for Hinata's well being?"

"Of course I'm concerned, but this isn't my or your decision to make. Hinata should be the one who decides if and who we tell," he looked down at his companion and shared a smile with her.

Hinata felt her heart soar that Naruto wanted to let her decide. She knew that they needed help to undo the state they were in, but she wanted to stay with Naruto.

"Neji, please don't tell anyone about this. I don't want Naruto-kun to get into trouble because of me," she pleaded and was glad to see the look of acceptance on her cousin's face.

"I will accept your decision; however, I will do what I can to help you, if I may," he agreed and decided it was time for him to return to the clan compound with a burden lifted from his shoulders.

"Please make sure to take care of her, Uzumaki," he said as he left the training area.

Naruto and Hinata shared a sigh and gave an exhausted look to each other.

"Let's go home," Naruto said to her as he placed Hinata back in his pocket.


End file.
